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The Seaforth News, 1937-08-05, Page 7THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937 t 1 1 1 I THE SEAFORTH NEWS. PAGE SEVEN Duplicate Mothiv .V ,Statements We can save you money an 'Bill and Charge Forms, standard sizes to fit ledgers, white or colors, ft will pay youu to see our samples, Also 'best quality Metal Hinged Sec- tional Poet Binders and. 'Index. The 3e,aforth .News , Phune 84 i 1 1 1 1 � ,..,..-,-m n,--.amu,,,--m p MUM THE PHANTOM CHANNEL With a skillful •hitch of his oar Billy Star swung the punt alongside the :set of marking stakes that pro- jected from the water at the mouth of the river. `Wall, can you 'beat that!" he ejaoulated, and his voice quavered with surprise, anger and disgust, "That makes twice in one week nowt" It was a'fyke that he drew dripping from the water, ,but you would 'hardly have recognized int. It looked like a muddy maze of cords covered with seaweed, "It's not even worth fixing now,," 'the boy thought, surveying the sor- rowful ;tangle. "How on earth does it happen anyway?" Billy kept asking himself that 'reaps - time as he rowed ashore. How could a fish •reduce a new and tarred' linen fy'ke to shreds—twice in one week? What kind of monster was this any- way? The net looked as if a submar- ine had nosed through it. Instead of going straight home Billy tacked the demolished fy.ke wi- der his arm and headed for the shack of Charley Joe --Chief White Owe Charley Joe, a Chippewa 'Indian, the only remaining one in that part of the country. No one knew Chartey's age; he himself had forgotten R. He was not a young buck by any means. Windego Lake, where Charley Joe lived, was inland water separated from Lake Michigan at ane end by a narrow strip of sand a hundred yards wide . At some tine it must have been a cart of Lake Michigan, but not within man's memory. Wob- bly River honed into Windego Lake. The stream was scarcely large en- ough to be called a river, bit in the eouree ,f a year it discharged a goad deal of water into the lake. Just what happened to all the water was a mys- tery. Everybody had ideas about it, 'Old Uncle Jake 1=Lapewood, for ex- ample, believed that there was an un- derground channel from Windego to Lake lvlichigan, and that the water to carry hack as a token of the tribe', 1 'Tlherel That was itl i-l'e continued 'Bound an outlet through it. sincere friendship. The Oneida climb-' to read: "The, age :this lout attains is 'Chief Charley Joe .rived all -hy hint- ed into his canoe and Wath swift, Ail- remarleahie, Frederick the Great plain self in a little shanty on ,the strip of est strokes started out of the channeled a number .of them in a take in sand separating' Windego Lake from into the big lake. Just as he reached Pomerania, in .117180. Some of these' Lake •Michigan. The iild Indian was I the month and 'had raised his paddle were found still to be alive in 1181616, lost in a thrilling dime novel when in a 'signal of farewell a willow shaft Professor van Baer also, states as the Billy entered. Dime novels were whistled from a 'clump of bushes result of observations made 10 Russis Charley Joe's favorite reading, and he always read aloud. "Hello, hig 'chief," Billy greeted hon. "'How's scalping today Charley 'Joe looked up and gritnted. 'Hullo, paleface hoy, 'S'cal'ping, him on bile blink, 'What word brings pale- face to big chie'f's' wigwam?" Billy ;exhibited the +tangled Tyke and ,told the old 'Indian what had happened. "What did it, Charley 'Jo'e?" he asked. Charley grunted. "Uighl Very bad medicine, paleface boy, very had." "Like castor oil?" "'Nate na," ,Oharley 'Joe replied, "No goad. Heap big !fish," Charley 'Joe stretched osrt his arms to their 'full length, Then he shook' his head; mpparetytly he.was reluctant to disuss the subject. "\Vha•t kind nt -:fish?" Billy urged him. Charley Joe grunted again. "Nall - ma. Paleface •boy no catch him, no- body catch hint. Bail medicine, NO good, no good.,' - - - "`('ell me about it, Charley Joe," 'l'he old warrior me Mated a mo- ment and then began a strange story. tirvsral Runic d erars ago, ft seem- ed, GV'ind,,, Lake mid Take Michi- gan were wined by a narrow chancel 00 which the Chippewa tribe had a village. There was plenty to eat in woods and water, and all the tribes in' the country were at peace. The Great Spirit looked down, and his heart was filled with gladness. Then one day during the moon of leaves there appeared from Lake Michigan •a canoe bearing a lone In- dian with hishand upraised in the sign of peace. He was Loose Feet, the son of tribe father of the Oneidas, IHe carried greetings and well -wish - lags from" his people to Running Hearse, the Chippewa chief. There was much rejoicing, and the tribe feasted and danced until late in the night. There was wrestling too, and Loose Feet was invited. to display his skill. One of the braves with whom he wrestled was Red Paint, the strongest of the Chippewa tribe, Long and fierce was .the struggle, .but iinaily Loose Feet ,forted the Chip- pewa to the ground, Filled with ;haute, Red 'Paint slipped from the light of the cairup ,fire into the 'black- ness of the forest, In the morning When •Loose Feet prepared to return to his own people the Chippewa chief .jrresented him with a ,calumet and a belt of 'wampum FOR READERS OF THIS PAPER. FRIENDS ! We are combining our newspaper with these two great magazine offers, so that you can realize a remarkable cash sav- ing on this year's reading. Either offer permits Is choke of top- notch magazines with our paper, and, regardless of your selection„ you will say it's a bargain. 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(52 Issues) - 1 "yr„ ❑ Judge - • - • - - - 1 yr., O Parents' Magazine - - - 1 yr, o True Story - • - - 1 yr, ❑ Screentalld - - 1 yr. YOUR NEWSPAPER MIN AND 2 BIG MAGAZINES GENTLEMEN: 1 ENCLOSE; PLEASE SEND ME ❑ OFFER NO. 1IIsidicatsw{uchtOOFFER NO. 2.1 AM CHECK- ING THE tvMAGAZINES DESIRED WITH A YEAR'S SUBSCRIP- TION TO YOUR PAPER, NAME ST. OR R.F,D TOWN AND PROVINCE , THE SEAFORTH NEWS. SEAFORTH, ONTARIO. nearby and sank to the feather in the Arranger, Lbreast, The canoe tipped, and Loose Feet vanished. The people of bhe village were stricken with dumb 'terror, ,For the peace messenger not to return alive meant only ane thing: war between the two tribes. Immediately the Chippewas sent a .prayer to the' Great Spirit for aid. And lo, even as they prayed a huge, ragged -edge cloud formed and 'appeared in the distance. Trailing from the cloud was a yel- lowish 'funnel -shaped whirlwind, It bore down upon the channel with the swiftness of an angry wildcat, tearing up trees and ,rocks as it came. At the mouth of She channel just where the body of ',Loose Feet had sunk it halted and filled the stream with sand and debris as if to cover the deed. But the attempt was futile; even before the winds stopped "blow- ing there was a mighty thunder from .the .big lake,—thunder that made the earth tremble,—and in the ,form of a Agati•tic fish the avenging spirit or the Oneida spanned the narrow ob- ,truetian in not great leap and landed with a mighty pht.eh in Windego Lek there -to remain forever - to uun-c evil on the - tribe of the Chip- pewas. The old matt stopped; his tale was finished.' Billy did not soak. Of course the story was nothing :but a tribe legend, but legends are usually founded on fact. Perhaps at one time there had been a .big fish in ,'the fake, The monstrous thing :that , was, de- stroying his nets, though, couldn't Possibly be the same one. That was a'b turd l 'Charley Joe's tale was eve: eral centuries old, and Billy :knew: that the life of even a muskellunge was only forty years at most. So far es Billy knew—and- he knew as well as anybody--W'indego Lake contained only four varietied of game fish: large -mouthed and small -mouth eel bass, pickerel and a few muskei't' lunge. the in'as certain that none ,of those fish could possibly tear the Tyke to pieces, He knew, to be sure, that that the fish sometimes live to- an age of 'from two to three hundred years." Billy gasped. "Well, maybe 1Charlie Joe was right after alit If they live that long, maybe there is spurt truth in that :fairy tale of his." 'Flromi that night .until the ice melted Billy was busy arming himself for the anticipated encounter with the net de- stroyer. His weapons consisted of .one salt -water rod and reel, one cable- wire snelled hook made to order ]by the town 'blacksmith and twice the size of the largest variety sold by the sporting -goods stores, one 'hundred yards of hard -braided Scotch -linen - fibre line, and ane five -tine fish spear. The spear was to take the place of a gaff hook if he ever got close enough to the monster to use it, An ordinary gaff 'hook would never do with this fish. The first favorable day after the lake cleared Billy loaded his apinara- tn, into the punt androwed lah]ri-. ot;iy over to the mouth of the river; that is where he and Charlie Joe had ren the shape through the ice that February aftermon let let the hoat rest alongside a clump, of lk1es and then proceeded hn rig •,Itis"� tackle. \\'hen it came to the ba-itid''elis re:t1i- ed into Isis coat pocket arid -,ilshec{ out. a tin, from which be -extracted atdoz- en or so -'tight 'crawlere, Worm: to catch a twelve -foot nton•ster! - Skillfully he looped- the night crawl- er an the huge half pound hook i?til nothing remained but a J-shaped wriggling mass. Then be dropped the bait so that it just touched :bottom and began pulling, it up and down in short jerks. Uncle 'Jake Hopewood, who was oetssliig on the bank with Jim Whit -j tale, dgau„sed a'm'omeett and ,ginned,; "H{0jt `` tt tegtight so; Billy Star's fin- ally ,* -rap ;'ftp his whale huntin' and. •1. �- "�'n sor na h' sensible like still t,t,p}y ,o ..net mt; sent fol , Funny what looney ideas some ,tteople get sometimes. Now 1 •altus maintain Say, what's gettin' into that kid, Look at hint" 'Billys line bad been in the lake - nntskelttunge occasionally weigh Acv erarcely five minutes when one of his nit -jerks met with firm resistance. "\Woof!" the lad grunted, "Snagged tirst Allot. Here's where I have to he careful or 3'11 lose the only hook I've got" Still hanging to the ,pole with ane hand, he reached out and took ,hold if the line. 'Then he started feeling out the snag eo determine just how the honk was fastened and the 'best method of extricating it. He gave the lice a gentle, straight -up twitch. Swish! Averrtrrrrrt ;His jerk seem- ed to have pulled the trigger of some powerful gun with the hook attached to the hall. The line snapped from his grasp and the arm holding the pole shot .outward, Still he did not release his',grasp on the rod, '"Sufferin' mndeatal" Billy brought his teeth together with a click, and his face took on the expression of a man who ;had picked up a charged wire, ,The',reesh of the leviathan on the end of tile* line frightened him. He wasn't .battling with a 'fish; it was a demon of the deep! Perhaps Charley Inc,had 'been right after all, perhaps the ,phantom fish actually was an evil spirit, 'instead of the monster's being frightened it appeared to be enraged at the idea of a nnere human attempt- ing to capture it. The reel handle; chopping Billy's knuckles as it whirred round, revived the boy's stunned senses just in time for him to slam on - the leather thumb brake and prevent . the line from overrunning. The fish zigzagged from one end of the Bike to the other, towing the old punt as if it were nothing more than a match. The reel hutmned like the ,whir of a flush- ed covey of quail; even the specta tore on the :bank heard it. The line disappeared from thespool as if by magic. One rush followed' another. Billy's arms 'feet tike so much •lead, and the blood pumped through . bis arteries with such force that he was afraid they moist burst. Would the demon never tire? Perspiration trickl- ed front the boy's :forehead and drip- ped off his -chin. His mouth was dry. tHis arnis ached. He was so tired that be wanted to scream, `It thought you prided yourself on the fact that you were never a quit- ter!" he jeered at 'himself. "Aren't you the same fellow- they picked for fullback on the all-star state high- school football -team? ' ,What's - the matter with you anyway? You're get- ting to he pretty much of a granny when you let a fish ;get the 'hest - of au."' .Although Billy •w•as too tired to- ap- enty,five or eighty pounds, but there weren't any ,af that kind in Win- dego Lake. But if it wasn't a nitiekeilunge. what was it? :Then and there .Billy de- cided that he was going to stake it one of his main duties in life to find out. Frointhat afternoon to the day the lake froze Nie boy was outafter the phantom ,fish. Sometimes he'cast, but more often he trolled. There wasn't a rod of surface on butt lake that his line did not go over. 'Hc used ?very variety of bait he could 'find, and ate even designed several new lures. Still he had no luck. The ,phan- tom fish, if it really existed, refused to. play. Other inhabitants round the lake tried to :catch it, 'but they did no better than 'he, "lI don't believe there is such an animal," said Uncle Jake Hopewood finally. "What proof have we: that there is? 'Has anybody eyer hooked it? 'No. You can't tell Me 'that a fish big enough to rip a tyke can, grow to that size without ever being seen. It's a pipe dream, that's all. S•omebody dropped an anchor on the boy's net most likely." During the winter that followed, however, an 'incident occurred that made Billy more confident than ever that a fish had destroyed his nets, It happened on a Saturday afternoon about the ,first week of February, !Pickerel :had started running, and Billy and Cha.r!ey Joe had pulled their spearing shanty on to the ice. They had been .watching half an hour when vsuddenly a slow -Moving shape appeared at the bottom of the hole— the outline of a fish swimming by al- most out of sight. Both watchers drew in their breath. Billy was sure the fish was it least twelve'feet longl When it .finally passed Billy found himself tremlbling; he looked at C!hacley 'Joe and tried to laugh, but his yoice sounded shaky. 'U'gttl" Clharley Joe grunted. "No good. No good. Naibma." 11 -le opened the door of the shanty and stepped out. niCltarley Joe go home. Materna, heem bad medicine for Indian, No get 'fish today." That night Billy dug out a book on fresh -water .lush in the hope Of ident- ifying the giant 'fish. The names in the book were arranged alphabetical- ly, and she began at •A. Nothing of in terest turned up until be gat to S. Under that heading were salmon, satger, t,had, shifters, cilversides, sanortblll, steelhead, stickleback, sariped .bass, stoneca•t— His glance lighted on a sentence that made Inc.heart jump. "This fish prelate it. the net .destroyer's rushee often attains a sire of ten or twelve were becoming less and less Frequent, teeth. It is the largest lake fieh end lend their ,u.t.wer had diminished. seat to tate ,paddlefish an'd the 'giant S•udelenly it was all'nver, 'Dile mon- gar of the Mississippi (River our . ter surrenderetl, With fingers bleed- ' largest fresh -water 'fish." ling and numb with exertion Billy etAiimp rat tOrr Electro Therapist — Massage OA�ice — Commercial Hotel Hours—Ion, and Thurs. after 'moons and by appointment FOOT CORRECTION by manipulation--Sun-ray treat - meat Phone 2127, proceeded to reel the playad-out war- rior . alongside the 'boat. :Not until then did he get his 'first lock -at tine giant battler -a long, thin 'lardy arm- ored with five' longitudinal rows of" heavy bony scales and with a broad shovel -shaped snout that opened and • closed rhythmically as the fish gasp- ed for breath. With a sleeve of his shirt Billy rub- bed the perspinatian from his for-- heat and grinned. 'H'rn, just as I thought—a lake sturgeon. ^Old hey, you certainly put up a tough tussle,. and if it weren't for the fact that youdve already lived several lifetimes,: - accbrding to Charley Joe. I'd almost be tempted to let you go. But as it is —say, how can I going to hoist you. in' the. boat?" ,Its was no. easy task. Tacking a scant .font the sturgeon vas as large its the,ppnt.' itself. The lad ,finally solv- ed then nlhletu, however, by taking the •s4iee'ar from tate bottom of the ' craft and 'driving it deep into the body of the fah. right behind the head. Then, fastening the anchor - rope to the spear ,po'le, he picked up the oars and pulled .painfully towards the shore. There were at least a dozen people - waiting on the be -arch to congratulate Billy, Among them were Charley Joe, Jam Whittaker and Jake Hbpewoad., No prisoner subjected to' the third degree ever had more questions- fired at him than were ;fired at 'Billy in the next fifteen minutes. But the 'boy sns-iled,and answered them all. You see;" be ealplained, `•1 got fig- uring last winter and finally decided that, as this fish wouldn't take any. surface bait, it must be a .bottom - feeder; and that's where the whole trouble lay, So I got out a 'book, on fresh -water Push one night and began going through it The minute I came to 'sturgeon' iknew that must be what I wanted: There wasn't aux other fish 'big enough to tear a net to pieces than aatswered the :descrip- tion." "Blur how," asked Jiin Whittaker, "how in the name of stud do you 'sup- pose it go't fn here from Lake Michi- gan!' Uncle flake H'opewood snorted... "(Get in here? Hath, that's easy. Why he cisme through the underground chaniel of course, 1allele told you there 'was- one, Ain't that Aso, •Belly?" Billy smiled. "IT don't know, Uncle Jake. Maybe that's the answer." He glanced at Charley Joe, who stored looking on in calm silence, "And then again maybe it isn't." NAVAL POMP • AND .CIRCU31MSTANCE .- Readers of iKetetlworth 'will retnem- :per with what 'splendor the ,E+arl of Leicester entertained Queen Eliza- beth. His son, 'Robert Dudley, inher- ited not only his father's lave of ,dine clothes and pomp 'pint also a love of adventure that sent hint in tits youth faring to the West Indies. In the Cradle of the Deep Sir 'Frederick Treves calls him bhe 'first West In- dian tourist. - Like other tourists. he went prim- arily to enjoy himself and to see new lands. Incidentally ,he did a little .pir- ating, ,but, though k was for sport, be, got little fun .from it. The only :Span- _ ish vessel be fell in with hoisted English colors and, escaping into shallow water, jeered at the tourist ship and taunted the crew •with mock- ery and depraved language,"the which," records .his captain, 'our gen- erall take ,mighbelie offensive," ' The pirate nobleman had every rea son to 'be -annoyed with those coarse mei, dor he, was :proud and dignified and ceremonious. iF:or example, when his ship approached a strange vessel to give battle, the colors of England and o'f the general were always ad- vanced in the tops, in tate poops and in The shrouds of the ship. Then the "ltruntpebs took their peaces ort the top of bhe general's cabin. Anyomc looking down loom the poop woufid . have seen "every ;gunner standings- by his peeve." On the poop would' be the noble lard himself in his "best armor, with the ribbon of the iGs.rter across ,lois breast, a baton in his mail- ed hand ami plumes in his helme't. Ido wonder. says Sir Frederick, that he considered it as "Inithtelie oli'ensice" for the Spinitel to ter off ottt of harm's way and then grin over his bulwarks at hint in ribald .and con- temptuous amusement, Want •.and For Sale ads, L weeks, 715s: