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The Wingham Advance Times, 1928-10-04, Page 6WINGHAM ADVANCE -TIMES Wellington Mutual Fire insurance Co. Established 1840 Head, Office, Guelph, Ont, Risks taken on all Glasse of insur- ance at reasonable rates. ►BNER COSENS, Agent, Wingham J. W. DODD Otfice in Chisholm Block VIRE, LIFE, ACCIDENT AND • zIEALTI-1 INSURANCE — AND REAL ESTATE Phone 240 at/NGEAM, — ONTARIO '4, 0, Box 36o J, W. BUSHFIELD Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Money to Loan Office -Meyer Block, Winghaxn Successor to Dudley Holmes R. VANS'TONE BARRISTER, SOLICITOR, ETC. Money to Loan at Lowest Rates Wingham, - Ontario J. A. MORTON BARRISTER, ETC. Wingham, Ontario DR. G. H. ROSS Graduate Royal College of Dental Surgeons Graduate University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry Office neat H. E. Isard's Store. W, 3ORNE, M. D. .i' n and Surgeon Medica: ..,_presentative D. S. C. R. Phone 54 Wingham Successor to Dr. W. R. Hambly DR. ROBT. C. REDMOND M.R.C.S. (ENG.) L:R.C.P. (Loud.) PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON DR. R. L. STEWART Graduate of University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine; Licentiate of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. Office in Chisholm Block Josephine Street, Phone 29. eS DR. G. W. HOWSON DENTIST Office over John Galbraith's Store. F. A. PARKER OSTEOPATH All Diseases Treated Office adjoining residence next to Anglican Church on Centre Street. Sundays by appointment. Osteopathy Electricity Phone 272, Hours -9 a.m. to 8 p.m. A. R. & F. E. DUVAL Licensed Drugless Practitioners, Chiropractic and Electro Therapy. :Graduates of Canadian Chiropractic College, Toronto, and National Col- lege Chicago. Office opposite Hamilton's Jewelry Store, Main St. HOURS. 2-5, 7-8.30 p.m., and by appointment. Matt of 'town and night le re - ...ended to. All 'frogman aaaridential. Phones. Office 300; Residence 6ot-13. J. ALVIN FOX Registered Drugless Practitioner CHIROPRACTIC AND DRUGLESS PRACTICE ELET RO-THERAPY Hours: 2-5, 7-8., or by appointment. Phone. tet. D. H. McINNES CHIROPRACTOR ELECTRICITY Adjustments given for diseases of all kinds; we specialize in dealing with children. Lady attendant, Night calls responded to. Office on Scott St., Wingham, Ont. Phone iso GEORGE A. SIDDAL .4 — BROKER — Money to lend on first and, second mortgages' on farm and other real es- tate properties at a reasonable rate of interest, also on first Chattel mort- gages on stock and on personal notes. A.fewfarms on hand for sale or to Tent on easy terms. Phone 73. ' ' Lucknow, Ont. -7 THOMAS FELLS AUCTIONEER REAL ESTATE SOLD Athorough knowledge of Farm Stock Phone 231, Wingham W. J. BOYCE FLU.MBI.*tr MT) J SEATING ?hone 58 might Phone 88 1,4 COPYRIGKT by e PENN PUBLISHING CO. The SYNOPSIS CHAPTER 1.—Garth Guthrie, Ca - adieu war veteran, having to live in the open on account of weakened lungs, is factor of a Hudson's Bay post at Elkwan. He came back from the conflict with a permanently scar- red face, which he realizes cost him the love of his fiancee, Edith Fal- coner. Sir Charles Guthrie, his bro- ther, is a millionaire war profiteer. CHAPTER I1.—With Etienne Say- anne, hafbreed, his firm friend, Garth meets Doctor Quarrier, geologist, and his sister Joan. Their schooner has drifted ashore. Quarrier complains he has been robbed by a man known as "Laughing McDonald" or to the Ind- ians as "McDonald Ha! Ha!" because of a scar which gives him a perpet- ual grin. McDonald is Garth's com- petitor for the fur trade. At Elkwan an Indian girl, Ninda, tuberculosis victim, whom Garth has befriended, is dying, Quarrier hints that Ninda is Garth's mistress, which is hotly re- sented. Joan, trained war nurse, cares for Ninda, but the girl dies. CHAPTER III.—Garth tells Joan part of the reasons for his presence at Elkwan. He takes the Quarriers to Albany, from whence they can pro- ceed to Montreal. Charles Guthrie writes reproaching his brother for not coming home. Charles' wife assures him Ethel still loves him, but Garth in his heart knows better. His scar- red face has separated them. CHAPTER IV—Three of McDon- ald's party visit Elkwan seeking to buy gun shells. From them Garth learns of evil talk among the Indians concerning him and Ninda, and real- izes Quarrier will spread his version of the affair. Chapter V.—With Etienne's help Garth wins the friendship of Saul Souci, "medicine man" and treaty chief of the Crees, and gets his pro- mise to persuade the Crees to take their furs to Elkwan instead of to Mc - DRS. A. 1 & A. W. IRWIN DENTISTS t£ice CHAPTER VII The morning subsequent to the nights of withering frost which clinched the grip of .the ice op the west coast, Garth and Etienne, muffled in blanket capotes and fur robes, drove their five -dog team hitched to runner sled for ice -work, out o fthe closed delta of the Elkwan and down the coast. Inland, the wide marshes reached the ripples of drift, like a white sea, to . the outguards of the' space, or lay, parti-colored, patches of dead grass brushed of snow, splash- ing the white levels with ochre and dun. Splitting the frozen shell of the ,s trait broken by pressure ridges and heaps of shattered ice, a streak' of black to the east marked the still open channel. Beyond, the hidden sun, breaking from the bay, rimmed the barrens of Akimiski with fire. But it was to the south, where the great point of the island pushed its bulk into the strait that Garth hoped to find that the abnormal December cold had built a bridge of ice to Aki- miski. Over the easy going of wind - hammered snow and shore ice, the dogs romped past the frozen beaches At a sandspit strewn with boulders Garth stopped. • With a hand from Etienne, he reached the top of a large rock and taking his binoculars from their case, studied the miles of ice - sheathed choals which followed the thrust of Big point toward the main- land. As he looked, his lips moved in a muttered note of surprise. Could it be that luck had come to Elkwan—to Garth Guthrie, in the shape of a road of ice from Akimiski before Christ- mas? "Come up here, quick!" he called to the man at the sled. The half- breed scrambled to the top of the boulder. "I can't make out open wat- er over there," said Garth, exultantly. "You take a look. It was a mile wide the day before the blow." Dropping his mittens, Etienne took Donald. Garth is ambushed by Joe I the proffered glasses. Until his hands reddened with cold, he stood as if hewn from the boulder. Then, when the column of his frosted breath Mist- ed the lenses, he handed the glasses to Garth, his eyes snapping with ex- citement. "De ice set ovair dem bar; we cross today and hunt old Souci!" he cried, sliding from the boulder and running to the impatient dogs. "We'll take rations for a week," said Guthrie, "round up the Elkwan hunters Saul is sure of, and chase them over the ice. McDonald may not know for days that the strait is closed here. He's thirty miles away." The willing huskies, urged by the crack of Etienne's whip, took the back trail to the post on the run. The success of the undertaking hung lar- gely on speed, and while Marie loud- ly bewailed the rashness of the cross- ing, seconded by the vehement old Anne, tent, robes and provisions were hurriedly stowed and lashed. When Anne opened the gate, with a leap Shot reached Guthrie, busy with a sled lashing, and man and dog rolled in the snow. Shielding his face with a mittened hand from the attacks of a hot tongue, Garth finally calmed the delirious dog, while Etienne checked the yelping huskies, keen to punish such familiarity with the fac- tor of Elkwan, South of the Big Point shoals, the great Attawapiskat, carrying the drainage of a vast hinterland, de- bauched through two mouths a wide delta, and, eight miles to the south., a single channel, the Lowaski, Snug in his tight little post above the delta of the upper mouth of the river, Gra- ham, the factor, independent of the fox. skins of Akimiski, waited for the rich trade from the interior to come to him. Bet some of the hunters trad- ing at rad-ing'at the post always wintered on the island and before he crossed in search of Saul, Guthrie wished to get the latest news from Albany and arrange for the dispatch of a dog -team, in- forming his chief of his crossing to the island. How far the crew of the schooner 'were prepared to go in the struggle for the trade, he had no means of knowing, but of their energy and daring there was no doubt. If Souci were successfuland the free- traders attempted to interfere with the hunters crossing to Elkwan, there might be an ugly row, So the fast dog -team doubled back down the coast ice and before noon drew in to the high shore at Attawapiskat. Graham looked up in surprise to see the tall figure of his neighbor to the north walk into the trade -room. Gra- ham was old and waiting only for his service pension. His days with the dogs on the shore ice or inland over the white barriers were over. If Mc- Donald were wintering on the island there would be little Akimiski fox traded at a Hudsonn's Bay post that year, Of thathewas sure. He could-' n't see how crossing to the island af- ter the strait closed would help the matter. The schooner would get the Christmas trade and pick up the fur through the winter as it was trapped. It was hard on Elkwan, but he had his upriver trade. McDonald could- n't touch that. Thus Graham who lacked but two years of retirement, and loved the comfort of his snug quarters. "Well, what brings you here in thir- ty -below weather?" he replied to Guthrie's salutation. "I've been hug- ging a fire for a week, trying to thaw out." Guthrie laughed. "I'm on my way to the island, Graham. I want you to relay this letter to Cameron—" "The island!" Graham gasped in surprise, "How -you mean the strait's closed—set over the shoals?" "yes!" And Guthrie hastily outlined the situation on Akimiski and his plans. "You think Souci will control the Elkwan hunters, Why should they Mokoman, Ninda's reputed father, whom the factor had driven from Elkwan. "Shot" Garth's airedale coin- panion on many battlefields in France, saves him, and the Indian is taken, a prisoner, to Elkwan. Chapter VI.—Garth sends Mokoman to McDonald with a message of de- fiance, and the war is on. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY The old wizard! He's the chap we need now. Our little job is to stop a stampede across the ice for the Christmas feast that Guthrie has pro- mised the Crees at Elkwan." Skene swung over the rail and an- nounced to his chief: "Souci says he'll start north at once and agrees to hold his relations and most of the rest, on the terms he offered. He wants to bind the bargan with you, person- ally." "Good!" And McDonald vaulted over the schooner's rail, followed by Skene and Breault. "The strait was closed two sleeps back? Where?" he demanded of the Indian. "Ovair de shoal at Beeg point," "You saw it?" "I cross to de Elkwan." "What? You've crossed the ice to the post?" The Indian nodded, his stone -hard features an enigma to the men who sought to react them. 'What did you learn?" "Dis Guthrie know de lee set, and all de Cree curn to Elkwan. He say, he geve me no'ting to work for heem." Saul Souci grinned into the gaping faces surrounding him, •"Oir.lee Saul Souci get you all dat fox from de nord, now." McDonald thrust out a red, mitless hand. "It's a bargain! You bring that trade here iand you get three tiff's, three shotguns, and the value macdolatatldiiiaaghrana c : ten prime black fox in trade." Dropping his rabbit -skin mitten on its neck thong, Souci took the ,ertend ed hand of the trader, "Kiyatn a powiya, it ees good," he said, solemi Thrusting his hand into the ban ing mitten, he cracked the whip plaited caribou thongs over his lea dog's ears, and again started for th shore, leaving behind him on the ie an arguing grouts of mystified and e Cited Men...' A. J. WALI(ER Phones: Office 106, Resi:d, 224, 1F1YRNITURE DEALER: arid i'UNEI; AL DIRECTOR Motor Equipment WINGHAIVI OIN''TAi.IO r. .MfilirrrrrrY,iY1Ml,Yn1"IquiYiMlpnn W rik'19i1rrrniMrrri:Yl�ery Graham Looked Up in Surprise. cross the ice to you when McDonald will pay more for. their/ pelts?" Guthrie's face reflected his irrita- tion. "Graham, I'm employed to get fur—not smoke by the stove and wait for it to come in. As Cameron ex- pects this letter and Christmas is only ten days away, I'll thank you to , ar-t a team with it at once." The victim of Guthrie's sarcasm red- dened under the ruthless character- ization of his sedentary tendencies, but his pension was near, and the risk of a dash over the young ice was Guthrie's, not his, so he magnani- mously overlooked the thrust. "I'll send a team, yes, if that's Cameron's orders. I'll say you're a fool, though, to cross, A good wind will break up that new ice' and cut you off. It's never in my memory closed before January. Still, it;'s your job, not mine. Go ahead and get yourself drowned, if you want to." "Some of your I.eople winter .'sere?" `Oh, yes! Six or eight families. But I can't help that.' "No, you can't," agreed Guthrie, catching Etienne's furtive lo rk, "Well, we'll have ,lust ab..ut light enough to cross in, so .'ll ;tart." As the dogs heated over the wind - brushed shell of the strait, broken by: drifts and hammocks, cks, split by tide creeks, irregular with cru; l'.cd ice masses lifted into pressure ridges, the eyes of the men on the light sled were focused far out on what, the week before had been itnliassable black water. Eight miles: out, half way a- cross, its- dr.ft ice, thrall. to tide and wind, had threened with swift ruin the eggshell of a canoe which chat. lenged its barrier. But pow, over the shoals, the 'dialling' had been sealed. As the dog-team.reached the newly' frc,zen gap, 1.?e:l.rrne 'and Guthrie went ahead to test the ice with axes. In de- fiance of the tide, the fierce frost had set three-inch ice. Anxiously the men 'swept the width of the channel, with glasses. • There were no breaks. So, led by the scampering airedale and Guthrie, with Etienne driving _ the huskies from the tail of the sled, they took the crossing on the run. A half -mile out when fear of thin ice had left, him and he swung along with Shot in front, Garth suddenly felt the ice vibrate beneath, his moc- casins. 'The sled with the dors would go through, unless' they carne with a rush. Turning as he ran, he waved to. Etienne—their agreed-upon signal for epee& "Matchet rotes enfants!" The ioni Thursday, October 4th, 1928,: caribou thong cracked on. the lead lined to Etienne, and wondered if the dog's ears. With a surprised yelp magic was working --if the mad medi- Castor, spreading.his feet, came with cine of the sorcerer . had conjured' a the team at a wild, gallop. On they tabu against the schooner. In the val- rushed, straining, slipping huskies, nails scratching the ice for `footing, and swinging toboggan, urged on by Etienne, for a break through meant swift drowning'for the dogs from the drag of the sled, and freezing in the stinging wind for the driver, if he reached firm ice. A hundred yards of mad scramble and the second dog slipped, slid side- ways, jerking the leader off his feet. The sled swung in a wide skid. Pass- ing his thrashing huskies on the run, Etienne called them to follow. Before the sled stopped its swing, the dogs were up and hard on their master's heels. A hundred yards and they reached the heavier ice -minutes of suspense, and the lead was crossed. 'The two friends gripped hands be- side the panting dogs. "Did you feel it?" cried Guthrie. "Thought I was going through! Felt like running on stretched canvas!" "I saw it geeve undair you, and crack de wheep before you- turn. We go t'ro' een dat channel, and pouf!. we nevaire care eef McDonald Ha! Ha! get de fur or not, eh?" * * * *- * Somewhere north of Big point in a valley sheltered.by the : tundra from the winds off the ice -fields, the sons of old Souci had a base camp. But the Indian had given Garth no rendez- vous in case he managed to cross the strait before Christmas, for Souci car- ried a roving commission, and his with rime from his frozen breath.• work lay where he found Elkwan hun- From the man who led his platoon the Sornme and his battalion in known ters. To Gacountry, rthbut theEtienne island was tra upn- atfront of Amens, the dignity w had - nit and swift - ped ped there and they started up shore ice, bound for the mouth of the Ptah- migan, a river which headed deep in the interior, confident of learning Souci's whereabouts from the first In- dian they met. For news of the com- ing of the old chief to the island would be passed swiftly.from hunter to hunter, valley to valley. And now the closing of the strait had ,greatly enhanced the value and importance of Souci's embassy to the Crees. Those loyal to the company could cross for the New Year's feast at the post, 'bringing their pelts; those wavering in the direction of the trade goods of McDonald could not now meet Saul's appeal with the.objection that a bar- rier of open water running with floe, wouldocrush their canoes. But the followed the rough river trail into the longer he dwelt on the attractions of hills, its toil began, and Etienne's the schooner at the cove, the less con- wisdom in bringing a toboggan in- fident he grew of saving much of the' stead of a sea sled equipped with run - fox trade. Few of the fickle Crees ,ners was vindicated. For once under would resist the blandishments of the the lee of hills, they found snow deep free -trader's agents: Then with a on the shell of the river and in places, start he realized that he was igno'r- where wind eddies had dipped into ing the scheme the old chief had out- the valley, new drift, through which ley of the Ptarmigan they would find a camp and learn. As the huskies trotted' smartly up the coast of the island while.Shot, free lance, ranged widely along shore in, search of, adventure, , Guthrie's thoughts ten'ipora'rily deserted' his mission on Akimiski to dwell -now that he had seemingly burned his bridges—on his status at home. For it would not be foreign to his broth- er's egotism and reverence for the conventions to read Garth out of the family, since he had written refusing to return. The gossip, following his failure to join the staff of the Guthrie Steel company and lead Ethel Fal- coner in all her blond lowliness to the altar,' would be gall to the palate of the recently knighted head of the Guthries. The : neglect of'his express command to the exile to shake the mud of James Bay from his sealskin boots and assume the responsibilities of a family man and a man of. family would, in all likelihood, mean that on his return to Montreal there would be no position in the works -no brother's house open -to the rebel. His person- al means, inherited from his father, were modest. Charles' fortune was the result of his own efforts—and a fortuitous war. That was why Char- les demanded wholesome respect and, absolute obedience from his ,younger brother. At the thought the younger brother smiled in his fur hood, ringed ly made fortune of Charles command- ed no deference and little respect. On his return—his return? He had com- mitted himself to making good at Elkwan for his employers—for his own self-respect. What he had start- ed he would see through. There might be no return—unless a certain letter in the Christmas mail should—. Then his thought,;until the 'dogs swung off the sea -ice and into the broken going at the mouth of the Ptarmigan, were of three swift days at Elkwan and two on the coast—of eyes, abstracted, perplexed, at times wistful, and a dark head silvered with moonlight, on the high shore above the Albany. As the dog -team left the coast and they broke trail on snowshoes for the sled, while the dogs, who had gallop- ed over the, brushed sea -ice, wallowed., to their traces. From the river fringe of willows and alders the black spruce scrub reached back up the slopes to fade and disappear under the shoul- der of the barrens. There low juni- pers and hardy Labrador tea alone survived the hammering of the winds on the: undulating miles of blueberry heath and caribou moss, swept, over exposed areas, of all snow. Suddenly, as they rounded a bend.: which had shut off all view upstream, Etienne, who was ahead breaking the trail, shouted and stopped, pointing,. in the direction of some thick' scrub, in the distance. "Camp up, dere I" Rising in the still air of the valley, a wisp of bluish smoke hung .against:: the background of black spruce. "Good! • Now we'll get some news. of Souci," Spurred by the quickened pace of. the trail breaker and the call of Garth, the five huskies threw their shoulders into the collars. Then, farther on, a stretch of wind -packed snowgave them footing and the yelping team, led by Shot; raced to the tips of the hunters' camp. "Kequay!" called Etienne, approach- ing the tipis half buried in the snow for protection from the wind and cir- cled by the usual debris and parapher- nalia of a winter camp. Turning to Garth he said. "De men are on de trap -line wid de dogs." Again he called, and, after a space, a •shawled head was thrust through. the door flap of a tent. "Where's your man?" asked Savan- ne in Cree. "On the lines. Who are you?" ""We are from,,Elkwan." And, as the woman emerged from the tipi fol- lowed by another and two children,. Etienne saw that he was talking with. Indians from the lower, rivers --stran- gers. "Have you seen Saul Souci, the Elk - wan Treaty Chief? Where is the camp• of his sons—what river?" The swart faces of the Cree women defied the sharp scrutiny of the half- breed. Surprise, doubt, appeared to curb a desire to laugh at the question of the stranger. They met each oth- er's black eyes in a quizzical look; then 'the elder of the two said: "Souci the shaman, we have not seen. His sons are said to camp north of here on the Rabbit river." The acute brain of Etienne strove to solve the riddle of the squaws' secret amusement. At last he decided that Joe Mokoman had won over their men to the free-trader, but why Souci had not appeared on the Ptarmigan was a mystery. (To be continued.) 14...._..w...1. 11 Have You Any f These Things To Sell 2 Young Pigs Baby Chicks Live' Stock Poultry Cordwood Shrubs or Plants Honey Preserves Farm House and Lot Money to Loan Hay 'Auto Parts Rabbits Pigeons Pets Home-made Pickles Home-made Jam Singing Birds Knitted Mats Used Piano Second-hand Article And a Hundred Other Articles Or Do You of Ti Lost Article Furnished Room House and Lot Farm Movable Building Situation Wit a t Any' ese? Trucking Housemaid Farm Hep Clerk Sales. Lady' Stenographer Second-hand Article Board Rented House Auto Parts Money on Mortgage Business Opportun. 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