| THE RIVER of SKULLS
-by George Marsh
0 PENN PUBLISHING CO, WN1J **RVIC*
CHAPTER X
—14—
On the following morning. It was
decided that Noel should hunt the
barrens across the river for deer
and Alan take the country behind
the camp. Certain that they had put
at least forty miles between them
selves and the hills where they had
seen the signal smoke, they felt
reasonably safe in separating to
hunt. Leaving the spruce and tam
arack scrub of the sheltered valley
Alan, with Rough at heel, where he
had been trained to follow at com
mand, came out on the shoulder of
the barren. Here Alan hitched
Rough to a tree by a thong, for the
sight and scent of caribou would
make him too excited to control.
Taking a deeply worn caribou
path, Alan traveled inland. From a
depression some rock ptarmigan,
now in their mottled summer plum
age, rose with a cackle for their
short flight. A curious arctic fox
watched him for a space from a
rise, shortly to disappear. From a
lift in the barren he saw what he
had come for. Four caribou stood
in the breeze of a neighboring hill.
Below them, feeding on low deer
bush, were three others. Sweeping
the country with his glasses, Alan
saw scattered groups. They were
the last stragglers of the migration
drifting north to spend the sum
mer on the cool barrens away from
the fly pest.
Alan circled to bring his stalk of
the feeding deer directly up wind
and made a careful approach be
hind some lichen covered boulders.
He was within short rifle-shot, when
the deer became excited. They
bunched, and two young bucks be
gan to dance and rear on their hind
legs.
Firing rapidly before they disap
peared over the rise, the surprised
hunter brought down two of the
stampeded caribou. As he ap
proached the deer, his eyes swept
the tundra to windward but he saw
only an empty reach of boulder
strewn barren, gray with caribou
moss.
He unwound the leather tump-line
from his waist, and rapidly skinned
the two deer. When the best of the
meat was rolled in a hide and
lashed with his line, Alan followed
the deer path over which he had
eome, back into a small swale
where, sheltered from the wind,
stunted spruce and deer bush fought
for life.
As he reached a huge lichen cov
ered boulder, he heard a noise be
hind him. Pivoting, with a side
throw of his head, he freed his back
of the heavy load to take a stunning
blow on the forehead—followed by
another. His gun slipped from
nerveless fingers as the light slowly
faded. He lurched forward, stum
bled a few steps, then crumpled on
the deer path.
The chatter of strange, high
pitched voices greeted his returning
consciousness. Somebody talking—
Indians. The whining voices again
reached his ears as he lay dazed on
the moss. Not Montagnais but like
it—this talk. Who were they? What
was the matter, anyway?
Then to the partially stunned
hunter came the slow realization of
what had happened. He’d been
struck from behind. He was lying
on his arms. They ached and he
endeavored to move them, but they
were tied behind his back. His feet,
also, were fastened with deer
thongs. Rapidly, now, his senses
became more acute. He rolled on
his side and squinted in the direc
tion of the voices. Beside a fire
squatted four skin-clad figures. Nas
kapi!
He had been caught hunting in
their country. The tales of the old
men of the Montagnais flashed
through his consciousness. No man
had ever returned from the land of
the Naskapi.
In a curge of desperation, Alan
strained at the thongs binding his
wrists behind his back, but the pain
that split his head at the effort
stopped him. He managed to change
to a sitting position and somewhat
lessen the torture from the mosqui
toes which swarmed about him. The
eldest of the four Indians, roasting
meat on sticks, turned to him with
a snarl:
"Your head is hard, white man!"
he exclaimed, in a peculiar shrill
voice.
Alan, who spoke Montagnais flu
ently, thrilled to the realization that
he understood the Indian, for the
tongues are similar.
"Where do you come from? No
strangers hunt in the land of the
Naskapi,” the Indian continued,
while one of the younger men rose
and picked up Alan’s 30-30 which
lay almost within his reach. As
he did so, he spat at the man who
sat on the moss with hands lashed
behind his back.
“I pass through your country,”
Alan answered, in Montagnais. "I
was hungry and needed meat.”
"You go to the Fort near the Big
Water, in the country of the Raw
Meat Eaters—the Huskies?”
“Yes!”
"You will not see the fort by the
Big Water. You will feed the ra
vens and the foxes!” cried the older
man fiercely, his small, evil eyes
glittering, as he scowled at his pris
oner.
When Alan's brain became clearer
and his strength returned, he start
ed some rapid thinking. The four
Indians who had ambushed him
were lean and hard but lacked
weight and pow'er. If he had half a
chance, if he could once get his
hands free and reach them before
they shot him down, he would show
these wild Naskapi how a white man
could tight for his life, one against
four.
“Many moons ago,” went on the
leader of the Indians, “white men
came down this river. The Husky
call it Kotasoak. Big River. The
Naskapi call it the River of the
Naskapi. The white men fed the
foxes.”
Suddenly Alan had an inspiration.
“The River of Skulls,” he suddenly
asked, “is it far?”
The mink-like eyes of the four
Naskapi met in looks of stark ter
ror. Their dark faces went gray.
Alan watched the hands of one hold
ing a chunk of roasted meat shake
as he dropped the meat into the
fire.
“You seek the River of Skulls?”
he cried shrilly.
“Yes,” cried Alan, blindly follow
ing up his advantage. “I go to talk
with Matchi Manitou. I am a white
His gun slipped from nerveless
fingers.
shaman. This summer the spirits
make medicine at the River of
Skulls.”
The Naskapi instinctively started
and moved back as if fearing the
man on the ground would at once
set in motion some supernatural
power.
"A shaman!” gasped one of the
younger men. ‘‘He says he goes td
talk with the spirits at the River of
Skulls.”
‘‘Why,’ leered the leader, “if yoiK
are a talker with spirits, did you fall
when we hit you? Why did you go
to sleep?”
"When I slept, 1 talked with spir
its,” countered Alan, playing for
time while he worked the blood into
his hands behind his back. “They
are angry with the Naskapi.”
But the Indians were gradually
shaking off the panic into which
tfiey had been thrown.
“Oh Shaman,” one cried, “show
us you are a jessikid—a maker of
medicine. White men do not talk
with the spirits of the Indian.”
“Lose my hands and feet and I
will show you.”
"If you are a talker with spirits
you will break the thongs!" derided
the leader, but Alan saw they were
ill at ease. If he could only keep
them uncertain of what to do—only
gain a little more time—while he
worked at the thongs on his swollen
wrists!
The Naskapi withdrew beyond
earshot and argued excitedly. While
they ceased to watch him, he sucked
in long breaths and with all the
strength of his arms and shoulders
strained at the deer thongs binding
his wrists. Slowly he felt them ease.
The four men, evidently decided
on their course, returned. Rapidly
they trimmed with their knives a
stunted spruce standing near to a
height of six feet above the ground.
Then they gathered a pile of dry
twigs and branches. What was the
meaning of this move? Alan won
dered. In the meantime, the thongs
holding his aching arms were
stretching. The circulation was flow
ing in his hands and their strength
had returned. He moved his toes
and feet. They were all right.
Then his twisting right hand con
tacted something hard in the hip
pocket below his belt His jack
knife! But what was the idea of the
trimmed spruce — the fire wood?
Then the realization of the sinister
purpose of the Naskapi reached the
bound man who watched them. They
were taking him at his word—had
decided to test his powers as a
sorceror. His claims were to be
put to the proof—by fire.
The Indians were approaching
him. To Alan’s surprise, the leader
bent and cut the thongs binding his
feet, keeDing his small eyes avert
ed. "Rise, sorceror. and stand by
the spruce. If you speak with a
double tongue, the fire will eat you.
If you are a friend of spirits, it
will not burn you!”
A surge of hope speeded his heart,
as Alan scrambled to his feet and
stretched his cramped legs. But
his hopes suddenly fell when he
reached the spruce and one of the
Indians wound a deer thong twice
around his neck and made him fast
to the tree.
"If your medicine is strong, the
fire will not burn! Make your mag
ic, oh Shaman!”
Instead of lifting a burning em
ber from the cooking fire and start
ing the kindlings at Alan’s feet, the
young Indian took the flint, steel
and dry most tinder from his fire
bag, struck the flint with the steel,
sending a spark into the tinder
held in his cupped hands, which he
blew into a flame and placed un
der the shredded bark and kin
dlings.
Alan looked long at the sun—his
last sun. His tormented eyes, now
swollen almost shut, dropped to the
barrens toward the river and back
to the caribou path he had followed
from the fringe of the timber. Then
his heart checked, to leap wildly
as the blood pounded in his throat.
There, on a rise, silhouetted against
the sky stood a black animal with
lifted nose scenting the air. Then
it disappeared.
lime: lime: ne must nave uiuci
He forgot the agony of the myriad
flies that had spotted his face and
hands with blood. He burst into a
wild sing-song in imitation of a
conjuror he had once heard at the
Lake of the Snows. The Indians
chattered twenty feet away, evident
ly disturbed.
Then as the kindlings failed to
catch from the tinder he cried:
“Tshipi! The Spirit! He has an
swered! See, he has ordered the
spruce sticks not to burn! My spir
it is strong! He is overhead, there,
in the sky!"
The Naskapi followed Alan’s eyes
to where a raven circled low to
the earth, above them. With a des
perate heave, Alan freed his hands
and still keeping his elbows stiff
against his side, got the knife from
his pocket and opened it behind his
back.
A little longer! If he could delay
the starting of the fire again until
he was ready—ready to make his
fight for life!
While the uneasy Indians till
talked with awed voices as they
watched the circling raven, Alan
continued in the whine of a coast
medicine man.
“Tshipi, my brother^ is here. He
has heard my calL He comes as a
raven to make the spruce sticks
smoke, but not burn!”
The four Naskapi stood, swart
faces twisted with apprehension,
watching the circling raven, when,
with a roar, a great dog bounded
into the fold in the tundra.
“Roughy! Come on Roughy! Get
'em, boy!” shouted the half-deliri
ous Cameron, slashing the thongs at
his neck and rushing headlong at
the startled group of Naskapi.
“Atimwok!” shrieked the leader,
picking up his gun and firing wildly
from the hip at the bounding husky
as Alan reached them from the reaf
and drove his short-bladed knife
deep into the back of the nearest
man. As he turned, a rifle roared
in his face and, half-blinded, he
dove headlong at the knees of the
Indian holding the smoking gun,
hurling him to the ground. But the
impact drove the knife from his
hand. Desperate with the thought
that his wound would sap his last
ounce of strength, Alan tore his
right arm free from the grip of the
writhing Indian, pinioned the oth
er’s knife hand to his side and found
his throat. With the strength of a
madman, the Naskapi fought to
free his neck from the white man’s
fingers that closed on his windpipe
like a vise. But the hunter who
fought against time—the instant his
wound would suddenly slow his
heart—would not be denied. Hold
ing his enemy with the grip of a
bear, he choked him into insensi
bility.
Behind Alan, raging like a fury,
the husky, escaping the two shots
from the muzzle loaders, leaped and
slashed at the two retreating Indi
ans who fought the frenzied dog
with their empty guns and their
knives. Avoiding by a side leap
the clubbed gun of one. Rough cata
pulted into the older man who
slashed the air in a wild thrust as
the canny Ugava again dodged.
Then as the Indian stumbled back
ward, the dog leaped in and struck
with his long tusk at the exposed
throat, ripping the flesh like paper.
As the Ungava made a side spring
away from his enemy, a gun butt
crashed on his skull. With a roar
of rage, the great dog staggered,
shook his head, then leaped back
as the gun butt again arched
through the air. But as the clubbed
gun missed its mark, Rough leaped,
carrying the Indian beneath him to
the moss. A knife flashed in the
sun, as the maddened husky’s tusks
snapped and tore, struck again and
again. The thrashing shape beneath
the dog suddenly relaxed. Mad with
rage, the Ungava shook the Naskapi
with a ripped jugular, like a rabbit.
Near him, the panting Alan lay
across the limp body of the Indian,
still pinning his throat with his
closed fingers. The swollen tongue
and bulging eyes told their story.
But in the face of the man who
had won, there was a look of blank
amazement. He was till strong.
He felt no pain. He sat up and ran
his hand over his chest. There was
no blood! Then he found a tear in
his powder-burned shirt close to his
ribs. Missed!
wnn a giaa yeip me nusxy leu me
enemy he was worrying and sprang
to nuzzle his master’s face. Alan
opened his arms to circle the blood
smeared mane of his whining dog.
“Roughy! Roughy! You chewed
the leash and came looking for Al
an! Bless your shaggy, old heart!
You were just in time, boy—just
barely in time!”
The love-snuffle of the white muz
zle in Alan’s face merged into a
low whine as Alan’s arm rubbed
the slashed shoulder of his dog.
“Why, they got you!” Alan care
fully examined the knife thrust in
the shoulder from which blood
oozed. “I knew they missed you
with the guns for you kept right aft
er them. It was too sudden for
them—that rush of yours! This cut
is not so bad, boy, but we must
get back to camp before it stiffens
and cripples you.”
Toward evening, down on the riv
er shore, two men and a girl waited
for the return of the man and dog
who had gone into the barrens.
“He must have found the deer,”
observed McCord, “or he’d have
shown up before this.”
“Plentee tarn. He pack de beeg
back load of meat,” said Noel, who
had wandered all day on the tundra
to thf. west without seeing a cari
bou.
“I’m wondering if anything has
happened,” suggested Heather,
rocking nervously back and forth
on the gravel beach and hugging
her knees. “I’ve been feeling sort
of spooky all day—as if something
was wrong.” She rose, running her
fingers through her mass of tum
bled hair and turned to gaze long
at the shoulder of the barren above
the valley.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Jacksnipe Visit Many Sections of the
United States; Once Called “Crazy Birds”
There isn’t a section of the United
States, from Alaska to Florida,
where there is bogland that the
jacksnipe doesn’t visit, writes Ding
Darling in the Indianapolis News.
It breeds from right up close to the
arctic circle through a wide belt of
country down into New Jersey,
then spends its winters over an ex
panse of territory that takes in
North Carolina, California and the
southernmost part of Brazil.
With its swift, weaving flight and
its plaintive cry of “Scaip, scaip!”
as it takes wing, the jacksnipe is
the familiar sprite of the lowlands,
the damp pasture, the muddy shore
of lake and stream.
The jacksnipe comes and goes
mysteriously on its migration jour
neys. The farmer finds a colony
of snipe busy probing in his mead
ow on an October morning where
he has never before seen a snipe,
and as abruptly, they’re all gone.
“Crazy birds,” the old marsh
men used to call them; some days
they’d be tame and trusting, other
days wild and wary. In the spring
the jacksnipe does a mating song
and dance act in the air, at night
mostly, and when you’ve heard the
performance you’ve been right close
to the spirit of the marsh. Wood
cock have a similar mating exhibi
tion. In fact, woodcock and snipe
have a lot in common, in appear
ance and habits, except that snipe
keep to open country and woodcock
haunt the brushy bogs.
Jacksnipe have sadly decreased
in the last quarter century due to
the craze for changing marshes
which once yielded profitable crops
of fur, fowl and fish into sour, un
productive farm lands on which the
new crops were never able to pay
the drainage bonds.
Voltaire Changed His Name
The great French poet, dramatist,
and philosopher known to the world
as Voltaire, was Francois Marie
Arouet, born in 1H94, the son of
Francois and Marie Marguerite
Daumart Arouet. At the age of
twenty-four he was imprisoned in
the Bastile for writing verses that
displeased the regent of France.
During this imprisonment he
changed his name to Arouet de Vol
taire. But as time passed the
“Arouet” was dropped and he be
came known simply as Voltaire.
WHAT to EAT and WHY
(?m 4/oulton CJoudlii tPiicuiiei the
Food Value of Ice Cream
\nmmmmmteeeeKKmmmmrnmm.. --
Nationally Known Food Authority Describes
Its Place in the Diet
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
6 Ea« 39th Street. New York City.
ONE of the most significant contributions of modern nu
tritional science was the discovery of the importance of
the protective foods—milk, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables.
These foods abound in the minerals and vitamins that
help to insure normal growth and health, and safeguard us
against me aenciency diseases.
In this group, milk and
dairy products made from it
assume a commanding posi
! tion because milk is the best
! and most practical source of
calcium and vitamins A and
G. These substances should
be consumed in much greater
proportions than at present if we
are to increase health and effi
ciency and improve our chances
for longevity. The first rule in
providing adequate
amounts or the pro
tective foods is to
allow daily a quart
of milk for every
child and at least
a pint for each
adult. This amount
of milk need not al
ways he consumed
as a beverage,
however. It may
be used in cooked
dishes or eaten in the form of
cheese and ice cream.
Composition of Ice Cream
Ice cream is often regarded as
a confection, but it deserves to be
classed among our most nutritious
foods. It is composed of varying
proportions of cream, milk, sugar,
flavoring and frequently a binder
or stabilizer such as gelatin. The
composition varies somewhat be
tween the home-made and the
commercial product, and the com
mecial product differs in various
states. That is because standards
governing the butter fat content
differ widely so that the require
ment ranges from 8 to 14 per cent.
Most large commercial companies
produce an ice cream with about
j 12 per cent fat.
Guard Against Contamination
Some states require the pasteur
ization of the milk or cream used
in manufacturing ice cream; oth
ers stipulate that the entire mix
must be pasteurized before freez
ing. These measures are desira
ble, as ice cream requires the
same scrupulous care that should
be given to milk and cream.
Because of the possibilities for
contamination, several precau
tions should be observed in buy
ing ice cream. Choose cream
manufactured by a reputable con
cern. Be sure to buy from a deal
er who keeps it well frozen, for
ice cream that has been melted
and frozen again may be danger
ous, owing to the opportunity for
the multiplication of bacteria
while it was melted. See to it,
also, that the dealer uses sanitary
methods in dispensing.
—if— •
Home-Made Ice Cream
An easy way to make certain of
the purity of the ice cream you
{ serve is to make this delicious
dessert at home. Motor-driven
freezers are available, as well as
those that are manually operated.
THIS FR EE
BULLETIN
REVEALS
__ THE SECRETS
BALANCED
DIET
SEND for the Homemaker’s
Chart for Checking Nu
tritional Balance, offered free
by C. Houston Goudiss, and
discover that a balanced
ration is not a puzzle.
This useful chart lists the
foods and the standard
amounts that should be in
cluded in the daily diet. It
contains skeleton menus for
breakfast, dinner and lunch
or supper to guide you in
selecting the proper foods
in each classification.
• Juit atk tor lb* Nutrition Chart,
addreumg C Houiton Goudiu.
6 E. S9tb Street. New York City.
And the homemaker with an auto
matic refrigerator finds it easier
to make ice cream than to pre
pare many less interesting and
nutritious desserts.
Ice cream powders which sim
plify the preparation of home
made ice cream, can be obtained
unflavored, or in a variety of fla
vors, including lemon and maple,
in addition to the popular vanilla,
chocolate and strawberry. The ice
cream powders may be used with
milk or a combination of milk and
cream to produce a healthful des
sert suitable for every member of
the family. They also may be used
for less rich but equally refresh
ing milk or buttermilk sherbets.
A canned freezing mix is like
wise available and is especially
nice in a fruit flavor as it con
tains pieces of the whole fruit.
—★—
A Comparison With Milk
If we regard one-sixth of a quart
of ice cream as an average serv
ing, and compare it with one cup
of milk, we make the interesting
discovery that there is a close re
lation between the two. The ice
cream provides about 24 more cal
ories and only a trifle less protein,
calcium, phosphorus, iron and vi
tamin A. There is considerably
less vitamin G, but ice cream is
nevertheless considered an excel
lent source of this important vi
tamin.
—★—
A Healthful Food
It then becomes apparent why
ice cream is considered as an
excellent food, not only for adults
but for children and convales
cents, and why one outstanding
authority urges the liberal use of
ice cream as a means of increas
ing the vitamin A content of the
diet.
Plain ice cream may be used in
terchangeably with simple milk
puddings. Rich mixtures, such
as those filled with nuts and crys
tallized fruits, rank with the heart
ier desserts and should follow a
lighter meal.
Ice cream is so rich in nourish
BULLETIN
on
Keeping Cool
with Food
You and vour family will enjoy
better health and greater comfort
during "he sizzling days of sum
mer that remain, if you send for
"KeepingCool with rood,”offered
free by C Houston Goudias.
It lists "cooling” and "heating”
foods and is complete with cool
ing menu suggestions.
A post card will do to carr/ tour
request. Just address C Houston
Goudiss, 6 E. 39tb St., New York City.
ment that it should not be con
sumed indiscriminately between
meals, but should always be con
sidered as part of the day’s ra
tion. When that is done, one nu
trition authority states that its
beneficial effects can hardly be
overestimated.
Effect on Digestion
One frequently hears the ques
tion, “Doesn’t the eating of ice
cream retard the digestion of oth
er foods consumed at the same
time?” The answer is that it does
slow up slightly the emptying time
of the stomach but this delay is
without significance and is more
than compensated for by the im
portant nutrients it provides.
Many people believe that it is
injurious to follow ice cream with
hot coffee. But it has been dem
onstrated that just the opposite is
true. The coffee raises the tem
perature of the food in the stom
ach and thus modifies the cooling
effect of the ice cream.
Another common question con
cerns the effect of cake or pie a
la mode. Experiments indicate
that eating ice cream with cake
or pie produces a more satisfac
tory gastric juice than when either
of these foods is eaten alone. One
must take into consideration, how
ever, that cake or pie a la mode is
a rich combination and plan the
remainder of the meal accord
ingly.
—★—
Use More Ice Cream
It has been estimated that five
billion pounds of milk are used
each year in the production of
commercial ice cream, which pro
vides about three gallons of ice
cream per capita. The amounts
of ice cream made at home will
raise this figure somewhat. But
the amount consumed may well
be further increased, because
when properly made from pure
ingredients, ice cream deserves to
rank with other dairy products
among our most wholesome and
nourishing foods.
• WNU —C. Houston Goudlsa—1838—M
_
Gay Kitchen Lightens Tasks
-1 \ j J /
Pattern 1783
Brighten your kitchen and light
en your tasks with decorative tow
els. Use up scraps for the ap
plique flower pots—or do the en
tire motifs in plain embroidery.
Pattern 1783 contains a transfer
■attern of 6 motifs averaging 5V«
Time to Hold On
When you get into a tight place
and everything goes against you,
until it seems as if you could not
hold on one minute longer—never
give up then! That is just the time
and place that the tide will turn.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe.
oy 9% inches and pattern piece
for applique; illustrations of
stitches; materials required.
Send 15 cents in stamps or coins
(coins preferred) for this pattern
to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraft
Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York
City.
—
HOUSEHOLD i
QUESTIONS \
_ ^
For Privacy.—If you live so
close to the highway that passers
by can look into your home, try
painting the screen doors with a
very thin coat of white paint and
you can look out, but people pass
ing cannot see into your living
room.
* t •
Fruit Juice Ice Cubes.—If you
have a gas or electric refrigera
tor, try using fruit juices for ice
cubes instead of water. They are
very pretty in fruit beverages.
Lemon cubes are lovely in iced
tea.
• • *
When Cooking Rice.—Try add
ing a few drops of lemon juice to
rice the next time you are cooking
it. It makes it beautifully white
and keeps the grains whole.
* * *
Napkins From Tablecloths.—
When tablecloths wear thin in the
center, cut up the outside into 12
or 16-inch squares and hemstitch
them. These make napkins which
will wear for some time.
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