^THE RIVER of SKULLS
-by George Marsh
e PENN PUBLISHING CO. WNU SERVICE
CHAPTER VII—Continued
—11—
“You’re hungry?” Heather asked.
The older ol the two men nodded.
"Enh-enh, yes! Were ees man?”
"Three men," she quickly replied.
“They come back tonight!”
f “Ah-hah!' the Indians exchanged
significant glances. Men did not
travel at night in the "bush,” or on
swift rivers.
“You trade at Fort George?” she
asked the cider man who had done
all the talking.
“Enh-enh, at For’ Geor’. Were
you cum?”
“From Rupert House—Nichicun.”
Again the Indians squinted doubt
fully into each other’s dark faces.
"Come inside and I’ll give you
some supper.” The men were hun
gry.
"Dat dog!” said the older Mon
tagnais. “I see heem on For’
Geor’.”
"No,” replied Heather, starting to
make tea and placing some cold
caribou and bannock on the table,
“he belongs to me.”
While the Indians ate ravenously
Heather boldly met their furtive
glances from where she sat on the
bunk beside the fretting husky.
When the Montagnais had emptied
the tea kettle and cleared the table
of food set before them, sucking
his lips with a grunt of satisfaction,
the older man turned to the girl
watching him from the bunk.
"Put de husky out We sleep
here!” he brazenly ordered.
The fighting blood of her soldier
father boiled in the girl’s veins at
the insolence as she rose to her feet.
“You sleep at your camp!” Her
heart pounded in her throat, her
eyes went black with anger, as the
grimacing younger man leered into
her tense face.
"Our blankeet ees wet. We rleep
^ here!” insisted the other with a
scowl. "Put husky out! He ees
cross!”
Then moving nearer to the girl,
whose right hand stole to her hip
pocket, the younger of the Indians
reached, to touch her hair, as he
said: "Eet ees lak’ de sun.”
But as she drew back from the
hand approaching her head there
was a snarl from the bunk across
the room and, launched by his iron
muscled legs. Rough's one hundred
and forty pounds of bone and sinew
catapulted into his collar, snapping
the rawhide leash like paper. Again
the dog leaped, carrying the young
Indian screaming to the floor as the
older man disappeared through the
door. Again and again the infuriat
ed husky struck with his great tusks
at the defending arms of the panic
stricken Indian. Then Heather threw
f herself upon the dog and with a des
perate wrench on his collar fell with
him sidewise to the floor. Momen
tarily freed from the dog, with a
leap the Indian shot through the
half open door, pulling it shut be
hind him.
Alan and McCord arrived with
Noel and the two canoes and Heath
er told them of the Montagnais and
their rout by the infuriated Rough.
The indignant men stared at each
other in disgust.
“And to think," groaned McCord,
“we staked that pair to grub when
ve met them on the river. I want
to see them show up here again.”
That night, while Heather listened,
the three men went into their plans
for the winter. There was, indeed,
much work to be done if Alan and
| Noel were to find a water trail to the
Koksoak in the spring.
“When are you leaving for the
Sinking Lakes?” asked Heather of
Alan who sat at the table poring
over the much-handled sketch map
of Aleck Drummond and comparing
it with McCord’s government map
of Labrador.
“Tomorrow,” he answered, with
out lifting his eyes from the maps
to the wistful-eyed girl who watched
him. “We’ve got no time to lose.
If Noel and I strike, the last of the
migration, we’ve got to cache all
the meat we can get, then, later,
build a cache on these Koksoak
headwaters we’re going to find and
leave a supply of food. This will be
our emergency cache, when we come
up the river over the ice in the fall,
with all that gold.”
“You seem pretty sure of finding
/ the Koksoak headwaters and the
gold,” she replied, doubtfully.
“Of course. We’ve got to be.
Heather! Or—we’d never dare to
make the try!”
The girl gave a little shiver as
her brows contracted in a frown
"Somehow I’ve got the feeling
that we’re never coming back—that
we’re going to starve or drown in
the rapids, or the Naskapi will get
us.”
“Here! here, what’s all tnis
talk?” John turned from the fire
place where he had been shaping
birch ax-helves with a draw-knife.
"Is this my big girl who sent the
Indians about their business? Of
course we’re coming back! We re
going to meet that deer migration
♦ and come up the Koksoak, next fall,
with so much gold dust and meat
on the sled that—”
"SuDDose de spirit scare away de
deer from Riviere ov Skull,” inter
rupted Noel, who was plaiting dog
harness, his dark face full of fore
boding. "Wat we do den?”
Alan looked up from his maps to
grin at John. “Why then we’d have
to eat the spirits in the Moaning
Gorge, Noel.”
» -■ ■
CHAPTER VIII
One morning, ten days after the
boys had left for the Sinking Lakes,
Heather, who had been hard at work
gathering a supply of berries for
the winter, took her pack bag, in
which she carried them, and her
rifle and started for the barren
above the valley. It was a keen day
in late September. The floor of the
forest was yellow with the leaves of
birch and aspen.
Leaving the valley, for an hour
she walked across the treeless tun
dra, gray with caribou moss, like
velvet to the feet, and splashed with
patches of low growing blueberries,
bake-apple, moss and cranberries.
But she did not stop until she came
to a fold in the barren, a little val
ley or swale where, shielded from
the wind, dwarf spruce, juniper and
deer bush gallantly battled for ex
istence. Here the berries grew in
profusion and of a somewhat larger
size than out on the open tundra.
Heather had almost filled her bag
and was seated, eating her lunch of
kWWWAWWWWWWVUl \ U 111 l
Trembling from the fright and
strain of the last few moments, she
gazed in awe at the great yellow
tusks from which the berry-smeared
lips were lifted in a snarl.
"Lucky Heather!" she gasped.
"Too close for comfort, that one!
I thought I was a goner! But I’m a
bear hunter now Wait 'til Alan
hears of this. He won’t tease me
any more when he hears this story
I’m a bear hunter, now!”
It was freezing, every night, and
the meat would not spoil. Her fa
ther could get it in the morning. So
the happy girl went to her bag of
berries and continued to pick. She
had stopped for a moment at a
dense patch of blueberries and was
eating when the slight breeze car
ried a sound to her ears that
straightened her where she sat, ev
ery muscle tense as wire. Again
came the sound, louder now. It
was men’s voices!
Searching along the rim of the
valley where it sloped from the bar
ren, she saw nothing; she crawled
to some ground juniper and edged
in under its spreading branches.
Soon the sound came again to her
ears.
"Who can it be?" she said aloud.
"McQueen or those Indians? And
they’re coming from the direction
of the camp!”
Watching both shoulders of the
narrow valley, at last she saw two
/ i •
Again and again the infuriated husky struck with his great tusks.
Bannock sandwicnes, wnen ner eyes
caught something black moving in
the low scrub a hundred yards
away.
“It must be—it must be a bear}”
she exclaimed, reaching for her
gun. Her heart pounded with ex
citement. She had seen bears be
fore but never had she shot one.
And here was the chance to add
much-needed meat and grease to
their store of winter provisions.
On hands and knees she started
to crawl toward the bear feeding on
berries a short rifle-shot away. She
did not dare risk a shot until she
had a better view of him, so worked
her way cautiously through thick
growths of Labrador tea. laurel and
spagnum moss. At last, she lay
where she had a clear view of the
feeding animal. Sprawled in a
clump of blueberries, with both
paws he drew the low bushes greed
ily to his mouth, stripping them of
their fruit.
With her heart beating in her
throat Heather attempted to draw a
bead on the black shoulder of the
beast hardly fifty yard's away. But
her sights wavered—would not hold
true. She must wait—get her nerves
under control. She felt herself grow
ing cold—cold with the fear that
she would miss.
Then with an effort she calmed
her jumping nerves. What would
Alan—her father, think of her if
they knew? Alan must never know
she had been afraid. Her white
teeth clamped hard as she again
aimed at the feeding bear. The
swaying sights on the rifle steadied.
Fo\ an instant the bead of the muz
zle sight held in the rear notch
and she squeezed the trigger.
With a roar the bear reared on his
hind legs searching for his hidden
enemy then dropped, biting savage
ly at his side. She had missed the
vital spot! She must not miss again!
Then, before she could aim. the
bear saw her.
' Bellowing his rage, he came lung
ing through the low scrub at the ter
rified girl. She leaped to her feet
and started to run. But the low
bushes caught a moccasin and she
fell headlong. On came the wound
ed beast, until but a few yards sep
arated them. Heather, twisting
around, still holding her gun, aimed
as he came and fired point-blank
into his chest. Scrambling to one
side, she pumped another shell into
the chamber as the stricken beast
crumpled in the blueberry heath.
‘Tve got him! I've got him!” she
cried, weak from excitement, as she
stood with cocked rifle. Knees shak
ing under her she watched the hulk
ing body sprawled in the bushes.
The second shot had gone home.
The bear was shot through the
heart
men, carrying guns. xney were
walking along the rim of the swale,
talking excitedly. She wondered if
they had heard her shots—or they
could see her. Nearer and nearer,
they came until, hardly a stone's
throw distant on the lip of the val
ley, above her, they stopped. Her
heart faltered. Suppose they should
see the dead bear?
For a space a thick-set white man
with a beard argued heatedly with
his companion, an Indian.
“The man Rough mauled, that
night!" she thought, trembling
where she lay, hugging the moss be
neath the thick juniper. “But who
is the other? What’s a white man
doing here on the Talking? Can it
be McQueen’s found his way back
to the forks?"
But the men noticed nothing so en
grossed were they in their talk.
Shortly they moved on, while the
agitated girl lay for a long time
after they had disappeared from
sight. Then she made her way back
home over the barren.
Reaching the Sinking Lakes Alan
and Noel worked to the limit of
their strength against the coming of
the "Freezing Moon” that, in Oc
tober, would ride high over the bar
rens. As they sat in front of their
_t_
tent before their fires on the frosty
evenings, with the dogs lying
around them, they made plans for
the search for a water way to the
Koksoak when the large lakes froze
and the snow packed hard for sled
ding.
“Our finding this River of Skulls
is just a question of meat and fish,
Noel, if the Indians leave us alone,"
said Alan.
The Montagnais shook his head,
doubtfully.
“We’re going to have a lot of pern
mican, flour and beans in that emer
gency cache at the head of the riv
er. Pemmican keeps all summer
and we’ll make plenty, for there are
deer wintering in this valley."
“Shish! Listen!”
The two men sat with straining
ears. Presently, far above them in
the frosty air they heard the faint,
clarinet-like, marching chorus of a
flock of whistling swan. High up
under the stars, that shone blue be
hind the pearly banners of the au
rora that writhed across the heav
ens, they passed like ghosts on their
long pilgrimage to the southern
waters. '
“Guess that’s about the last of
those boys, this year," said Alan.
"Straight from Baffin Land, I’ll bet!
Well, Noel, my lad. the long snows’ll
soon be with us, and then—the big
jump off!”
Day by day the platform fish
cache, mounted on high, peeled
spruce saplings, ringed with invert
ed cod-hooks to baffle climbing wol
verines, received the night’s catch
of the two gill-nets. Great lake
trout, the Montagnais kokomesh,
"the fish that swallows everything,”
some running to twenty pounds in
weight, white-fish, Jack-fish or
northern pike, red and gray suck
ers, and ling, came to the nets. It
would require an enormous supply
of fish to feed the hungry Ungavas
through the winter months, and
there were four humans besides.
Deep in the spruce and tamarack
swamps that circled some of the
chain of Sinking Lakes and gave
them their name, Alan and Noel
were much relieved to find scat
tered bands of caribou that had lin
gered behind the migration to win
ter in the valley and feed on the
moss, called “old man’s beard,”
that draped the dry spruce.
Before the October freeze - up
closed the river and the large lake
on which they were camped, the
boys made a hurried visit to the Mc
Cords with a canoe load of trout and
meat and the pie-bald skins of young
caribou to be turned into hooded
parkas and moccasins. There news
of Heather’s discovery awaited
them. Warning McCord and Heath
er to be eternally vigilant, they re
turned North.
The “Freezing Moon” had come.
Each morning the boys had to break
out their net buoys, for the film ice
was reaching out far from the shore
although the large lake on which
they were camped was not as yet
closed. Snowshoes, strung with car
ibou thongs, which, unlike moose
and cow hide, shrink when wet rath
er than stretch, were ready, as well
as a long toboggan sled. Noel, ex
pert hide worker, had made hooded
parkas and smoke tanned mocca
sins for snowshoeing. working with
the strongest thread known, the split
sinews from the back of a bull
caribou.
So soon as the snow was deep
enough for sledding, the puppies,
growing like colts, were given their
first lessons in tandem harness, for
their short experience of the pre
vious spring with the single fan
hitch of the Eskimos was of little
value.
(TO HE CONTINUED)
Lichens Serve Both Man and Beast in
Many Ways, Geologists, Botanists Say
The lowly lichen plays an impor
tant part in nature’s scheme of
things, reports the New York State
College of Forestry. Ordinarily
lichens, which are found on rocks,
trees and stumps in many different
forms and colors, are nothing to get
excited about. We think of them as
some sort of parasitic growth of no
particular use and doing little harm,
but geologists and botanists tell us
that lichens serve both man and
beast in many ways.
From the college report, writes
Albert Stoll, Jr., in the Detroit
News, we learn that lichens make
their own food from water and air
and are not detrimental to the plant
life to which they become attached.
“They take carbon dioxide from
the air in the process of making food
and give off oxygen in the same
process,” says the report. "Cer
tain types cause the disintegration
of rock mechanically by invading
the smallest crevices, splitting off
fragments, chemically secreting an
acid which acts on the rock thus
producing new soil.”
Lichens also supply tood for
many northern animals. It is the
principal food of the reindeer. Mich
igan’s experiment with reindeer,
eonducted about 20 years ago. failed
principally because we did not pos
sess the proper type of lichens for
food.
Some types are used in the manu
facture of medicines and dyes. The
base for the litmus test for soils is
a lichen that grows along the Pacific
coast.
We are told that these plants are
extremely sensitive to air pollution
and this is one reason why they are
not found near communities where
gas, smoke and dust permeate the
atmosphere, but thrive in the clean
environment of the woods.
Still Wines
Still wines are the result of the
fermentation of the juice of sound,
ripe grapes. Fermentation is the
conversion of grape sugar into al
cohol and carbonic acid gas. In
natural (still) wines the fermenta
tion is completed before bottling.
Their alcoholic content varies from
nine to fourteen per cent. Sparkling
wines are produced in the same
way, according to an authority, ex
cept that the last stage of fermen
tation takes place in the sealed bottle
so that the carbonic acid gas is re
tained and produces effervescence.
WHA T to EAT and WHY
_._____ I
-f/ouiion CJoudlii "Pilcuilei.
Cheese-Prince of Proteins
Noted Food Authority Tells Why You Should
Eat More of the Food That Is So
Rich in Protective Elements.
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
a Eait 38th St.. New York City.
F'OR many years, men with an inventive turn of mind have
dreamed of creating a product that would concentrate all
the important food elements in a small tablet or capsule.
They have been inspired by a desire to simplify meal prep
aration without sacrificing nutritive values.
No one has ever succeeded
in making a synthetic food
that would both satisfy hun
ger and properly nourish the
body. But all the while, the re
searchers have overlooked the
magnificent possibilities of cheese,
one of the most concentrated,
nourishing, satisfying and versa
tile of foods.
—★—
Cheese—The Body Builder
Cheese is the most concentrated
source of protein known. More
over, the protein is
of such high type
that if it were the
only body-building
food in the diet,
given in sufficient
quantities, it would
be adequate not
only to maintain
life, but to support
normal growth.
One-half pound of
American Cheddar
cheese will supply
all the protein required by an
adult for an entire day.
Cheese—The Energy Food
In addition to its rich store of
protein, cheese is also a fine
source of energy.
A cube of Cheddar cheese one
and-one-eighth inches square pro
vides 100 calories or the equiva
lent in energy value of the lean
meat of one lamb chop or one
medium-sized potato. One-half
pound of Cheddar cheese furnishes
1,000 calories, about half the daily
requirement of an adult leading a
sedentary life.
— « —
Cheese lor Mineral Salts
Because milk is rich in miner
als, it follows that cheese, which
is made from milk, contains these
precious substances in highly con
centrated form. It is an excellent
source of calcium, the mineral
which is responsible for building
strong bones and sound teeth, and
for keeping the heart beating
normally. A one-and-one-fourth
inch cube of American Cheddar
cheese contains as much calcium
as an 8-ounce glass of milk.
The individual who does not
care for milk as a beverage can
easily obtain the necessary cal
cium from cheese. But it is prac
tically impossible to get adequate
amounts of this mineral without
either milk or cheese.
In rennet cheese, phosphorus,
as well as calcium, is present in
the same proportions as in milk,
but is much more highly concen
trated. As in milk, these min
erals are in a form that is most
nearly perfect for easy assimi
lation. Rennet-curd cheese is al
ways high in sulphur and fairly
i . ... ■* "" ..
Do You Want to Learn
Houi to Plan a
laiiative Diet?
Get Thin Free Bulletin
Offered by C. Houtlon Goudisi
READERS of this newspaper
are invited to write to C.
Houston Goudiss, 6 East 39th
Street, New York City, for a
free copy of his bulletin, “Help
ful Hints on Planning a Laxa
tive Diet.”
The bulletin gives concrete
suggestions for combatting
faulty elimination through cor
rect eating and proper habits of
hygiene. It gives a list of laxa
tive foods and contains a full
week's sample menus. A post
card is sufficient to carry your
request.
_
y — i —■—————————
high in iron. Furthermore, the
iron is in the most readily assimi
lated form.
Cheese and Vitamins
Cheese is a splendid source of
vitamin A, which promotes growth
and increases resistance to dis
ease. It is especially important
for eye health and is necessary
to prevent the affliction known as
night blindness. The amount of
vitamin A varies with the type of
cheese, but both American Ched
dar and Parmesan cheese are ex
tremely rich in this substance,
and cream cheese is an outstand
ing source. Vitamins B and G
are also found in whole milk
cheese.
With this wealth of food values,
one would expect to find cheese
appearing on the menu in some
form every day. But though the
annual production of cheese in the
United States exceeds 700,000,000
pounds, it should be much greater.
The annual per capita consump
tion is only pounds—a woe
fully small figure when we con
sider the wide benefits that would
result from its greater use.
The failure of American home
makers to use cheese in the
amounts that they should is, I be
lieve, due to three factors: first,
a lack of knowledge concerning
its splendid food values; second, a
belief in the old superstition that
cheese is not easy to digest; and
third, failure to take advantage of
the many ways in which it can
be served.
Digestibility oi Cheese
The foregoing outline of its
many food values should give a
new conception of its place in the
diet. As to its digestibility, stud
ies by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture have entirely
disproved the fallacy that it is not
completely digestible.
It was found that on an average
about 95 per cent of the protein
and over 95 per cent of the fat
of cheese were digested and ab
sorbed. The various kinds of
cheese tested were found to com
pare favorably in digestibility
with the food of an average mixed
diet. It was also demonstrated ex
perimentally “that there was
practically no difference between
cheese and meat with respect to
ease of digestion, at least in such
quantities as are commonly
eaten.”
There was also a notion that
because it is so high in food value,
With this Ftm
Bulletin on Planning
a Correct Summer Met
SEND lor the free bulletin on
"Keeping Cool with Food,"
offered by C. Houston Goodin
It outlines the principle* of plan
ning a healthful summss diet,
lists "cooling" and "hsating"
foods and is complata with
menu suggestions.
Just addraesC. Houston GoucBss,
6 East 39th Street, New Task
City. A post card is all that is
^nsMMan^oMrTyyouinreqrBest^
cheese should only be eaten in
small quantities. But scientific
tests have proven that cheese may
be eaten by normal individuals in
large quantities, as the principal
source of protein, with entirely
beneficial effects upon health.
—w—
Place oi Cheese in the Diet
There is a case on record of a
young man who lived for two
years on a daily diet consisting of
one-half pound of cheese, a one
pound loaf of whole wheat bread
and two pounds of fruit While
this limited diet might prove mo
notonous to some people, it is pos
sible to utilize cheese as the easi
est method of providing important
food value, varying the diet, and
simplifying meal preparation. For
there are more than 200 distinc
tive varieties of cheese listed by
the department of agriculture,
ranging from the smooth, delicate
ly flavored cream cheese, which
may be given to very young chil
dren, to the sharp tangy cheese
which is especially popular with
men. Fortunately, almost every
type can be purchased in pack
aged form, in sizes that are con
venient for large and small fami
lies, making it possible to enjoy
a wide variety.
Cheese can be used as a main
dish; in salads or sandwiches; as
a sauce for vegetables; as a des
sert. It is desirable at the same
time to serve bulky foods, such as
fruits and vegetables. Cheese may
also be combined advantageously
with carbohydrate foods. This is
because the balanced diet requires
more carbohydrates than protein.
And cheese is essentially a pro
tein food, interchangeable with
meats and fish.
r ... 'i
Questions Answered
Mrs. F. T. M.—Both orange
juice and prune juice have their
place in the child’s diet. Orange
juice is rich in vitamin C; prune
juice is a fine natural laxative
and is a good source of the Mood
building minerals.
Mrs. S. F.—All 20 of a child’s
first set of teeth are inside the
jaw and almost completely calci
fied before birth, though the first
tooth does not erupt for some
months after birth. That is one
reason why it is so important
for the expectant mother to con
sume adequate amounts of cal
cium.
e WNU —C. Houston Goudlss— 1*3S—21
Loveliness in Crochet Cloth
est 26 inches. Pattern 6084 con
tains instructions for making the
cloth; an illustration of it and of
stitches; materials needed; pho
tograph of section of the cloth.
To obtain this pattern, send 15
cents in stamps or coins (coins
preferred) to The Sewing Circle,
Household Arts Dept., 259 W.
Fourteenth St., New York, N. Y.
Please write your name, ad
dress and pattern number plainly.
He Answers
“Does your wife ever pay you
any compliments?”
“Only in the winter.”
“In the winter? How do you
mean?”
“When the fire gets low, she
says: ‘Alexander, the grate!' ”
Pattern 6084.
A 58-inch cloth done in a jiffy
on a big hook with two strands of
string! You can make this design
in three smaller sizes, the small
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