THE RIVER of SKULLS
f
-by George Marsh
• PENN PUBLISHING CO. WNl' SERVICE
- ■ -
SYNOPSIS
Alan Cameron, young trapper, Noel,
his Indian partner, and Rough, husky
Ungava sled dog, look In vain for the
Montagnats trappers' camp In the deso
late Big River country of Northern Can
ada. Their supplies destroyed by wol
verines, they are forced to subsist on
wolf meat until they come, amazed, to a
substantial log house in the wilderness
of Talking River, where they are greeted
by a big blond man with a gun. Intro
ducing himself as John McCord, hunter,
the big man asks Alan if he dares go
with him next year to the River of
Skulls beyond the Sinking Lakes, where
no man is said to have been before.
Heather McCord, the daughter, who had
come with him to the wilderness, wins
the Immediate devotion of Rough. On
the eve of Alan's departure for Fort
George. McCord suddenly tells him to
bring him back some dogs, and to keep
his mouth shut to questions. He gives
the boy money, warning him not to show
it at Fort George, and promises to ex
plain all later. Returned to Fort George,
Alan meets McQueen and Slade, Pro
vincial police, with Arsene Rivard, clerk,
and Alan’s rival for Berthe Dessane,
with whom he is in love. The two police
are looking for a guide to the Big River
wilderness. Accidentally Alan drops one
of McCord’s bills and when questioned,
Insists he had got it from Neil Campbell,
whose life he had saved at Whale River
two years before. He realizes he must
make good his lie by going north and
seeing Campbell before anyone else has
had a chance to talk to him. Berthe’s
father tells Alan the police are after a
man wanted for murder, and have hired
a boat to check Alan’s story at Whale
River. Alan beats the police to Whaie
Island, en route to Richmond to get his
dogs. Alan returns to Fort George. An
other government agent, a seductive
Mrs. Hanbury, arrives by plane, tries
to bargain with him to tell her the where
abouts of McCord and his daughter.
The only outcome is Berthe’s jealousy.
Miserable over Berthe’s coolness, Alan
suspects Rivard of poisoning her mind.
CHAPTER V—Continued
—7—
“I want to talk with you, Cam
eron,” said McQueen.
“All right.”
Leaving Noel with the dogs, Alan
Joined McQueen and entered his
house. The policeman took the chair
Alan offered and leisurely filled and
lit his pipe, then asked abruptly,
“When do we start up river?”
It was evident that McQueen in
tended to ignore the matter of the
race to Whale River, was satisfied,
as was most of Fort George, that
Alan had met McCord. For a space
the eyes of the youth met the other’s
in a fixed stare.
"I’m starting in about a week,”
said Alan. “Are your men strong
water men?”
“Yes, they’re good river men.
Slade and I were brought up in a
canoe.”
“Good thing for you. There’s some
bad poling water on this river.”
“Well, when you’re ready to start,
let me know,” said McQueen.
“You’ll be a month reaching the
three forks and you’ll need three
months’ grub, for you might miss
the caribou,” said Alan, hoping to
learn whether the police intended
to winter in the interior or to return
before the ice.
“Three months?” laughed the oth
er, rising. “We’re traveling in two
canoes with flour for six months.”
As Alan watched McQueen walk
toward the Hudson’s Bay store he
said aloud: “No, you won’t get John
McCord. What a mess he’d make
of you and Slade if you ever met
him!”
Torn between pride and the desire
to see Berthe, Alan sat in his cabin
that evening when the afterglow had
faded from the sky and the rose
flush of the ri\^r surface had re
treated before the purple dusk. But
a few days remained now before his
start to meet John McCord and
Heather. When would he again see
Fort George and the girl who doubt
ed him?
Noel was visiting at a Montagnais
tipi and Alan smoked, alone with
his plans. There had been a list of
things to be bought for Heather
through one of the Montagnais girls,
a friend of Noel, to avoid suspi
cion. And there was extra flour and
sugar, beans and tea, that McCord
wanted to cache somewhere before
they lunged into the unknown tun
dra—a relief cache to which they
could retreat if the caribou failed.
Alan sat deep in thought when the
yelping puppies in the stockade
aroused Rough from his sleep. He
went to the door, listened, sniffed,
then snarled.
weiio, there! Alan Cameron!
Please take care of your dog! I
want to see you!"
It was the rich, throaty voice that
had argued with Alan the night be
fore at the French Company’s
trade-house. Alan's dark brows met
in a scowl but he sent Rough to
his corner and opened the door.
“Good evening! Will you come
in?” he said, wondering how soon
Rivard would reach Berthe with the
news that Mrs. Hanbury had been
at his house, and yet hoping, as
this woman was a government
agent, to learn more of John and
Heather McCord.
Alan lit another candle and placed
a chair for his caller. She smiled
easily up at him while he leaned
against the door.
"You’re a foolish young man, Mr.
Alan Cameron. Do you realize that
you’ve ruined your reputation at
Fort George?” Mrs. Hanbury
leaned forward, elbows on knees,
chin cupped in her graceful, well
cared for hands, as she watched
Alan through her half-shut, hazel
eyes. “Not only that, but you're in
serious trouble with the govern
ment.”
“Just what did you come to Fort
George for?" he countered. "Are
you here with McQueen on this man
hunt, or is there something else?”
She laughed boisterously at his
question, and totally unfamiliar
though he was with women of the
world, he caught a ring of hard
ness, of callousness, in her voice.
“I'm a special agent of the govern
ment at Ottawa," she went on and
her voice suddenly softened with
suggestion, “but I’d swap secrets
with a man as—as handsome as
Alan Cameron.” She rose from her
chair and stood in front of him, her
knee touching his, as she looked
down at him possessively. “Now if
you’ll tell me where you left Mc
Cord. I’ll tell you just why I happen
to be here."
As he watched her, hoping that,
in her brazen self-confidence, she
would carelessly say too much,
she suddenly placed both hands on
his shoulders, and gazed trium
phantly down at him as if already
she had won. But he smiled in
wardly at her easy assumption of
victory. So the rude hunter of fur
was now supposed to tell all he
knew when the perfumed lady from
“I can’t help myself, can I?”
Ottawa flashed her teeth, threw
back her head and looked at him
through her long lashes? Well, he
also had some teeth to show. Calm
ly brushing aside her detaining
hands, he rose from his chair and,
while her brain fought with her of
fended pride as wave after wave of
blood stained her face, he calmly
lit his pipe.
"You—you—” she choked.
“You — what, Mrs. Special
Agent?” he asked, coolly.
Suddenly recovering her poise she
stood staring at him in amazement
"You blockhead!” she finally
managed to say.
She turned to find Rough standing
at her elbow, hair erect, his throat
swelling in a muffled growl.
“That beast! Take that beast
away from me!” she cried.
"Here, Rough!” commanded Al
an. "You’re scaring the lady. Did
you think she was going to bite
me? I did. Good-night, Mrs. Han
bury!” he opened the door. "So
that’s the way a special agent from
Ottawa handles the men!”
Standing in the doorway he
laughed bitterly into the night. He
knew, now, that he could not make
his peace with Berthe Dcssane be
fore he left Fort George.
It was July, the Montagnais
“Moon When the Birds Moult,” and
the trade was at its height at Fort
George. Gradually the coast Crees
were taking their families to sum
mer fishing camps on the coast is
lands, where the Hearne’s salmon,
sea-trout and whiteflsh were school
ing before ascending the rivers to
their spawning grounds, and where
the Canada geese, pintail and black
duck would flock with their new
broods. Remnants of the great ice
floe from Hudson’s Straits, Fox
Channel and the Bay of God's Mer
cy which had besieged the coast in
the spring, now drifted far in the
great bay, slowly vanishing under
the sun and the warm rain winds.
The remaining days of his stay
were busy ones for Alan. There
were supplies to be carefully
checked, all of which he bought with
his credit at the posts. The money
McCord had given him he hid care
fully under the floor of his cabin.
The extra flour, beans and sugar
Noel got through Montagnais, as
well as the extra gill-net which
might some day, in the heart of
the unknown country, save their
lives. Fearing the havoc which the
tongue of Mrs. Hanbury had un
doubtedly created at the Revillon
Freres through the oily Rivard, for
days Alan avoided the parting with
Berthe. But at last, hungering for
the sight of her face, driven by
the desire to defend himself, he
went to the Revillon Freres.
Gabriel Dessane and Pierre were
busy with Indians, so Alan waited
until the factor was free. As he
lounged against the counter, Arsene
Rivard entered the room, saw Al
an, flushed and went at once to
the desk behind the counter where
he busied himself with an account
book.
So she’s been here, surmised
Cameron. Berthe knows Mrs. Han
bury came to my house. Rivard’s
lost no time telling her mother some
wild lie about that call. There’s lit
tle chance for me now, with Berthe.
Finishing with the Indian, Gabriel
Dessane approached Alan and gave
him a hearty handshake. “How are
you, Alan? They tell me you got the
dogs you were after. Come outside
where I can talk to you.”
In the empty clearing Dessane be
gan: "You start with the police this
week McQueen tells me. That is
good!”
“Good?” protested Alan. “I can’t
help myself, can I?"
“No, but your going to Whale put
yourself in a bad light here, Alan.
Everyone thinks you met this Mc
Cord.”
“Do you?” Alan looked hard at
the kindly Frenchman.
“You say you did not. For me
that is sufficient.” The other smiled
inscrutably into Cameron’s level
eyes.
i came to say gooa-Dy to uertne
but—she's turned against me. The
other night she heard I had talked
to Mrs. Hanbury and was jealous.
Madame Dessane, Rivard, they’ve
been working on her.”
Gabriel Dessane raised both arms
to the skies in an eloquent ges
ture. “Mon Dieu, what that Ma
dame Hanbury has done at Fort
George! My wife to me will speak
hardly at all. Tiens! Alan, it is
terrible!”
Alan smiled at the older man’s
vehemence.
‘‘She tried to get information the
night I was here and, three nights
ago, she came to my house and—
and—”
‘‘And what, Alan?" Gabriel Des
sane was interested.
‘‘Well, she may be a government
agent but—”
“Go on, Alan.”
“She tried her best to make me
talk. I had nothing to say.”
Dessane seemed disappointed. He
frowned at the distant hills across
the great river. “She has been at
me to attempt to learn from you
if you met this McCord—and to find
out where. She is a pretty woman,
yes—a pretty woman,” he said with
a sigh. “She has made much trou
ble for me.”
“Now about Rivard,” demanded
Alan, immersed in his own problem.
“You know how I feel toward
Berthe. Do—do you object to my
hoping—that some day—”
The older man placed his hand
kindly on Alan’s shoulder.
“There is much time yet, Alan.
You are both young—too young. You
have your way to make—”
' But Rivard, he s wasting no
time,” Alan demurred, vehemently.
"Are you his friend or—mine?”
Dessane’s face sobered. “Rivard
is sent here by the company. His
family has influence. I am help
less. And there is Madame Des
sane! She is very difficult.”
“I see,” replied Cameron, with a
shrug. “I’m a poor man—a hunter,
without a decent home to give her.
Rivard will go up in the Company.
I see! Well, I’ll go and say good-by
if she’ll see me.”
"You must not forget that you are
under a cloud here—the police may
make serious trouble for you. But
Berthe will see you. She is not hap
py. She does not know what to
think.”
Alan started to move away, then
turned to the older man. “Oh, I
want to ask you a question. When
you were at Fort Chimo did you
ever hear of the River of Skulls?”
Dessane stood for a time with
knit brows, seemingly groping deep
in his memory. “I recall, now, an
old Naskapi once told me about a
River of Skulls where there had
been a battle between the Huskies
and the Indians,” he answered.
“They exterminated each other.
And their spirits now moan in the
gorge near which the fight took
place. He said some of the bones
and skulls are still found along the
shore. But the Indians were afraid
of this moaning gorge, Manitou
Gorge, the Gorge of the Spirits, as
they called it, and most of them
avoided it.”
“Was this river far in the interior,
south of Chimo?”
“Oh, yes, deep in the caribou bar
rens. He said it was a branch of the
Koksoak, but no white man has
ever been there. It’s a country
where even the Indians starve when
they miss the deer migrations.”
Alan bade the trader good-by,
then, braving the stony face of Ma
dame Dessane, went dejectedly to
say his farewell to Berthe. At the
door where once he had been wel
come he wras kept waiting by what,
judging from the sound, appeared to
be a heated argument, punctured by
the shrill voice of his friend, little
Manon. At last the door was opened
by Berthe.
“I am leaving in a few days,” he
said, probing her dark eyes in an
attempt to read her thoughts. "I’ve
come to say good-by, Berthe."
"Come in, Alan,” she said, with
a faint smile.
"Berthe,” he began, “I can’t go,
with you feeling this way! It’s all
Rivard and this woman, I know.
You don’t understand what she’s up
to."
I understand this mucn," tne gin
retorted bitterly. “She was at your
house. She boasted to Madame Mar
tin, at the Northern Trading Com
pany, that she had twisted you
round her little finger,” Berthe flung
back caustically, her black eyes
snapping as blood flushed her dark
face.
There were tears in his eyes as
he watched her wrestle with pride
and doubt and the loyalty of years.
“Oh, it’s not that! You’re wrong!
It’s not this woman!” she protested.
“It’s your suddenly going up the
coast when you’d been away—so
long! You went to see Neil Camp
bell! You know you did! Everyone
believes it! It’s that you went away
and did not tell me the truth. You
couldn’t care so much for me and
do that. It’s that I’ve lost faith in
you—that’s all!” With a sob and a
faint "Good-by, Alan!” Berthe ran
from the room.
CHAPTER VI
There were only a few friends to
bid Alan and Noel good-by on the
beach at the Hudson’s Bay Com
pany when they loaded their canoe
for the long trip to the headwaters.
But, at the Revillon Freres, the en
tire population watched Trudeau
and Goyette, McQueen’s helpers,
with two hired Montagnais canoe
men, stow the outfit in the two po
lice canoes. Near them, Dessane
and Rivard talked to McQueen,
Slade and Mrs. Hanbury.
Shortly, the police and the woman
who had turned Fort George into a
hotbed of gossip withdrew from the
group and talked, heads together, in
low tones. Then, after hurried good
bys, the two boats headed for the
far shore where Alan, with his four
Ungavas running the beach, was
riding the flood tide.
Later, in front of the Northern
Trading Company, a sea-plane tax
ied up the river, lifted, then in a
long loop returned and passed over
the police canoes.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Neurotics Are Numerous and Make Life
Unpleasant for the Rest of the Family
Those difficult people whom we
call neurotics are getting plenty of
advice nowadays. But how about
those long-suffering ones who have
to live with neurotics? Isn’t it
time they received a little of the
aid and comfort that is being passed
around?
A nervous invalid can reduce a
whole family to serfdom—and what
can’t one do to the family pocket
book! Countless scores of men and
women—more often women—suffer
from aches and pains for which no
physician can find an organic cause.
They wander from one doctor to
another looking hopefully for the
miracle man who “really under
stands my case.”
Some have “heart spells” or "gas
on the stummick,” or throw a mys
terious kind of fit when they are
crossed, writes Raymond G. Fuller
in Cosmopolitan Magazine. The
handy illness flares up in a family
emergency, just when calmness and
efficiency are especially needed.
When moving day comes, or John
ny breaks his leg, or Aunt Emma
arrives for a visit, a headache (or
something) sends the fragile one to
bed, while more mature members of
the family have to carry on.
Then there are the family dicta
tors who rule by direct methods
rather than by appeals to sympathy,
and pity. They are fathers and
mothers who turn their children
either into weaklings or into bitter
rebels against authority; wives who
browbeat their husbands into apolo
getic "timid souls"; husbands
whose wives tremble with fear at
their frown.
Neurotics are hard to get along
with because they find it hard to
get along with themselves. Because
they are uncomfortable they make
others uncomfortable. They haven’t
really grown up, but get their own
way by playing on other people’s
sympathies or scaring them into
submission, just as children do.
Whether clinging and sweet or tem
pestuous and domineering, they are
family tyrants when allowed to be,
and neurotics do make cowards of
us all.
Beginning of Billiards
An authority on billiards dates the
real start of the game in the United
States from the year 1859. The
first national match was played at
Detroit, Mich., April 12, 1859.
Strange Facts
f Government - |
• Pays Cats •
THE familiar old proverb says,
“a cat may look on a king,’’
but there is no mention of what it
may cost the king. In England
some cats may demand their
weekly pay from his majesty’s
government. There is an old Eng
lish law providing a shilling a
wreek for the food of each cat em
ployed in the service of the state.
There are about two thousand cats
on the British government’s pay
roll. Cats still protect granaries,
cold storage vaults, docks, work
shops, ships and stores.
It is Denevea mat tne ancient
Egyptians domesticated and re
vered the cat because his protec
tion meant the difference between
plenty and starvation. The Egyp
tians were a grain producing peo
ple. A plague of mice and rats
could reduce the population to
starvation. Eighteen centuries be
fore the Christian era the cat was
domesticated in Egypt and treat
ed with respect and veneration.
When a cat died the members of
the household went into mourning.
It is commonly thought that cats
$an see in the dark. This is an
erroneous idea. Their eyes are so
constructed that the pupils can
contract to mere slits in bright
light and become large and round
in the dark. Because of the mech
anism of the eye cats can catch
|rays of light too dim for the hu
man eye to see by. Cats can see
E'n very faint light, but not in total
larkness.
© Drltannlca Junior.
THE most economical way to
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Some of the pattern pieces may
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Also mark each pattern piece
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Brush fringe accents the main
I
Never Despair
A friend wrote a letter saying
that he was in very bad health,
and concluded: “Is there any
thing worse than having toothache
and earache at the same time?”
The other wrote back: “Yes,
rheumatism and Saint Vitus’
dance!”
Tommy’s definition of “nothing”
Is a balloon without its cover.
DISPUTED
Professor—The cave man had
only a primitive language.
Sophomore—That can’t be so,
sir. Else how could they have
given those Greek names to all
their animals.
Off the Earth
Two motorists were zipping
along at some eighty miles per,
when a policeman appeared from
nowhere and ordered them to pull
over.
“Were we driving too fast, of
ficer?” asked one of them.
“No,” he sneered, “you were
flying too low.”
Softer, Please
Indignant Customer — Really,
Mr. Sands, you get dearer and
dearer every day.
Grocer—Not so loud, mum. My
wife’s powerful jealous.
The new couple is said to be
well matched. She was a grass
widow and he’s a vegetarian.
So Unprepared
Husband (hearing burglar)—Be
quiet, dear. This is going to be
a battle of brains.
Wife—Yes, but shouldn’t you
have a weapon of some sort?
Ilis Lesson
Father—I promised you a bi
cycle if you worked hard at school
and passed. And you have failed.
What have you been doing?
Tommy—Learning to ride a
bike.
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Pattern 6091
Distinctive — this easily cro
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In the Doghouse!
A dog’s life really is a dog’s life,
according to a Baltimore (Md.)
expert. In fact, it may be even
worse than it’s jokingly supposed
to be.
Take, for example, the canine
nervous breakdown. The most
lowly pooch has feelings, too, anc
may become ill because oi
anxiety or tough breaks.
If the atmosphere isn’t friendly
a dog reacts to it, becomes blue
and moody, just like a human
Frequently strain of a dog show
is too much for an entry, and il
will go to pieces, refuse to eat,
become ill, though it’s in perfecl
physical condition.—Washington
Post.
lines of this slip cover. The top
of the fringe is stitched in place
at the same time the seams are
sewn.
NOTE: Every homemaker should
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r
HOUSEHOLD
QUESTIONS 1
.—
Filling Worm Holes.—If furni
ture is attacked by wood worms,
syringe the holes with paraffin,
and afterwards All them with
paraffin wax.
• • •
Cooking Green Vegetables.—Let
the water be boiling when the
vegetables are put in. The kettle
should be left uncovered and the
cooking time reduced to a mini
mum.
• * •
Washing W'hite Silk.—Never use
soap on w'hite silk. The soap
should be dissolved in water be
fore laundering is begun.
* • *
Cleaning Electric Toaster.—A
cheap narrow paint brush is splen
did for brushing crumbs from
between the wires of an electric
toaster and also lessens the dan
ger of damaging the toaster.
• * •
Blue for the Kitchen.—Claiming
that flies hate blue, paint experts
recommend that kitchen walls be
colored medium or “implement”
blue with pale blue ceilings.
* • •
Coloring Custards.—A stick of
cinnamon broken into the milk
beaten into custards gives them a
faint cinnamon color, but does not
darken them.
0*^
f&J
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Ignored Misfortunes
Ignorance of one’s misfortunes
is clear gain.—Euripides.*
Past Events the Rule
A sensible-man judges of pres
ent by past events.—Sophocles.
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