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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1941)
Vani/hed Men I By GEORGE MARSH W.Ri^Seriic*? THE STORY SO FAR: Bound for the Cfcibougamau gold country, ft* men lost their lives on the Nottaway river. Red Malone, Garrett Finlay, brother of one •f the six, and Blaise, half-breed guide, arrive at Nottaway posing as surveyors At J INSTALLMENT ELEVEN to investigate their deaths. They visit Isadore, rich for man living in an iso lated, palatial home. He seems Im plicated In their deaths. Here they meet Lise, his pretty stepdaughter. After an swering her appeal for help, Finlay is t a a a a a it 1 ambushed, but later escapes. They con tinue to keep It a secret that they are Mounted Police. Sent to Investigate the deaths ot the sla "drowned” men, Finlay believes Lise was innocent and writes her a note. 1 * * The stiff line of Blaise’s mouth •ased into the shadow of a smile. "Wal, it is not first time woman snake two man look like fool. But Smart or fool, you are fr’en’ of me! 1 fight for you just de same!” "That’s the talk, you old carca ' Jou!” Red clapped Blaise on a thick | shoulder. Finlay went to the tent and shortly [ returned with his reply to Lise Dem [ arais which he handed to Malone. It read: "I trust you and believe in you. That night when they left me in the swamp I was pretty bitter. Against my better judgment I had put my faith in you and walked into a trap. It was hard to believe, after that talk of ours, after that moment on the beach before you left, but I had : to. Later, the bitterness faded. There had been something too honest about you, too real to have been acting, i Now I know that without your knowl edge they followed you to the sand beach. “I cannot meet you until next week. You’ll hear from me then. But please don’t worry. We’ll take care of you. I’ve just received good news from the railroad. The break is coming soon. Everything will turn out all right. Kinebik has double crossed Isadore to save his hide and I’m leaving tonight for the head of the lake. Keep a brave heart. You are safe. “Garrett Finlay.” Finishing reading Red said: “Great stuff, chief! Wish it was true! If Isadore gets hold of this note, what a jolt he’ll get!” “Exactly. I had to consider that possibility so fed him a headache. It would send Tete-Blanche to the head of the lake hunting us while we’re making for Matagami. Be sides, I’ve got to keep up her cour age.” Having ordered Moise and Michel Wabistan to meet him on his return with news from the old chief, that night Finlay passed Isadore’s and spent the next day concealed near the outlet. The following evening the Peterboro slipped into the Quiet Wa ter, the slow moving thoroughfare connecting Waswanipi with the chain of large lakes to the west. Three days paddle away lay Matagami and the Hudson’s Bay post. The murk of a thick July night blanketed forest and water. “It’s made to order for us, Gar ry!” whispered Red, from the waist of the boat where he sat behind Flame with his Lee-Enfleld across his knees while, in the stern, Blaise handled the canoe with a buried pad dle. "Remember the island which splits the river about five miles be low here?” returned Garry. “That’s where they’ll camp. They’ll figure that a canoe can’t pass them there without being seen or heard. But they didn’t count on a night like this.” "If they hear us and shoot do we lie doggo and push through, or—” “We don’t fire unless we have to! I want to pass them without their knowing it. We have to return this way, you know.” “Very good, sergeant! Good luck to us!” "If they’re guarding both channels, we’ve got to pass within yards of them. Have a pineapple handy, Red! Warn us when you throw it so we can flatten.” "I’m hot to toss one into that mob.” "All right! Remember, no firing unless we’re caught!” As they rounded a bend Blaise stopped the boat with a swift thrust of his paddle. In the distance, like a new moon smothered in drift, a yel low smudge stained the blackness. "They’ve got a fire!” whispered Finlay. “I don’t understand it!” “We drop close and have a look,” returned Blaise. The canoe moved on and was again checked. "You hear dem?” “No.” “Singing!” muttered Red. “The damned fools are singing!" “They’re drunk!” whispered Gar ry. “They sure are!" returned Ma lone, inhaling the damp air through his teeth. “Ah-hah! De Montagnais drink Is adore’s whiskey!” grunted Blaise. "Indians! So Tete-Blanche wins!” Disappointment, like wind off a bar ren, turned Finlay cold. “Kinebik’s won over the Montagnais! Thank God, we didn’t bring Lise!” “This is luck!” whispered Malone. “They’re so drunk they’ve forgotten us.” “We can’t be sure. They may have a guard on both shores,” warned Garry. "We’ll take the right hand channel, Blaise. What in—” The sudden scurry of feet and wings as a flock of disturbed shell drake skittered ahead downstream, stopped the boat ‘That cooks our goose!” cursed Red, softly. “They’ll know some thing startled the ducks and will lay lor us!” “Go on, Blaise!” snapped Finlay. “We’re in lor it, now!” The canoe was passing the fire. In seconds they’d be clear and lost A downstream. Then there was a grat ing sound as the nose of the Peter boro slid over a sand bar and the canoe came to a dead stop. They were trapped, yards from the shore! Finlay and Red swiftly traded rifles for poles while Blaise strained to free the boat. One false move and they’d draw a blast of fire. They threw their weight desperately on their poles. There came the low call of “Kekway!” from the murk. The three men stiffened. Crouched in the gloom the crew of the canoe waited for the crash of rifles in their faces. A silence so deep it beat like sound, pulsed in their ears. Ten—twenty seconds and the men in the bow felt the canoe tremble. Blaise’s signal to go! Like one man they strained against their poles. There was the scrape of wood on sand, the low wash of water and the canoe was backed clear. The nose of the boat had sheered off into deeper water when again, the call of “Kekway!” rose from the invisible shore. The three stopped breathing as the boat drifted. Sud denly there was a movement in the alders and spurts of flame from ex ploding rifles stabbed the gloom. With a savage thrust Blaise jumped the canoe downstream. The enraged airedale rose under his blanket, but was forced flat. There was a stam pede of feet along the shore and full in their faces blazed a barrage of rifle shots. The canoe grounded and was cleared again while the rifles of the “Go on, Blaise!” snapped Finlay. “We’re in for it, now!” Montagnais spat blindly at the in visible target. At last, far down stream Blaise trailed his paddle. “Thanks, Isadore, for that whis key!” panted Red, splashing water on his bleeding cheek. “If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were drunk for a fare-thee-well, they’d have slaughtered us on that bar! Good thing we didn’t let them have it, though! They’d have fired at the flashes. I thought they’d jump into the canoe.” “They didn’t know what they were shooting at, Red! The guards on shore heard the duck pass; then the wash of water when we shoved off. By now they probably think it was one of those bank beaver we saw when we came up the river.” “W’en Injun gret drunk dey like to shoot de gun,” grunted Blaise. “Dey navare know if we pass or not onles nose of cano’ leave mark on dat bar. I t’ink not. De current take care of dat.” “You’re right, Blaise,” said Fin lay. “We had them guessing. And we’ll keep them guessing. I wonder if Kinebik has won them all over or if these were only a few of the wild est Tete-Blanche bribed with Isa dore’s whiskey.” “It looks like Wabistan had lost all his influence,” said Red. “Mebbe,” replied Blaise. "We see.” And his long paddle bit chunks from the water. “Lise was right when she warned that Isadore is trying to bottle us up,” said Finlay. "With the Mon tagnais hunting us all over the lake we’ll have to step lively or we'll nev er see that plane from the north.” CHAPTER XII Three days later the keel of the Peterboro slid into the gravel beach at the Hudson’s Bay post at Mata gami. The door of the white-washed log trade-house opened and two men started for the landing. At the gate of the slab dog-stockade surrounding the trader’s quarters a tall girl, whose golden bob the sun touched into flame, curiously watched. From a window of the frame house a wom an and two half-grown children stared at the three men on the beach, for white travelers were rare at Matagami, buried in the Notta way wilderness. "Good day, gentlemen! Welcome to Matagami!” The trader, a sandy haired man of fifty, shook the hands of the strangers. “I’m Duncan Mc Nab, in charge here, and this is Da vid, my head man.’’ Finlay introduced himself and his friends. “We passed through the lake some time back, Mr. McNab, on our way in to map Waswanipi.” “Map Waswanipi?” The shrewd blue eyes of the trader pictured his amazement. “You’re a government survey party, then?” “We were.” Finlay shot an amused look at Red. The heavy brows of the trader lift ed. "Then you’ve finished?” “No. Mr. McNab, we’re not on the survey, now, but we haven't finished with Waswanipi.” Finlay’s face stiffened. “We’ve come to you for help and information. Then we're going back—to finish.” The clamp of his lean jaw and the points of fire in the speaker’s eyes snapped McNab’s head for ward in a narrow-eyed stare. “I don’t get you, Mr. Finlay. Let’s talk it out over a pipe in the trade room. Of course, you’ll stay the night with us? We’re pretty lonely, here, for a white face. Your men can stow your stuff in that shack. David will show him.” “Thanks,” said Finlay. “I’ll shut up my dog, too, before there’s a fight.” Shortly the three white men sat in the traderoom. “Now, Mr. Finlay,” said McNab, exhaling a cloud of smoke, “would you mind getting down to brass tacks?” Finlay was measuring the caliber of the man whom circumstances had forced him to trust in order to insure the delivery of his message to the railroad. This trader looked a man full in the eye and had a straightforward way with him. He seemed staunch. According to re ports he had been worsted by Isa dore in the fight for the fur trade. That was in their favor and should keep his mouth closed. There was nothing to be gained by waiting. “How well do you know Jules Isa dora?” Garry suddenly asked. The veins lifted in McNab’s neck and temples as he tore his pipe from his teeth and rasped: "Too damned well!” Finlay nodded at the grinning Red. "I thought that would be it Well, Mr. McNab, we’re going to tell you a story. It concerns the deaths of six men. First, possibly you’d be interested to look at that.” Fin lay produced his police badge and handed it to McNab, whose jaws sagged in his surprise. “We’re Mounted Police and we’re here to have a message relayed to the rail road.” McNab slowly returned the badge. His eyes strayed from the bronzed faces of the Mounties to the lines of their hard bodies filling the wool shirts and whipcord breeches. "Po lice, eh? I might have known from your eyes and the set of your shoul ders. Well! Well! Up on Waswanipi posing as surveyors! So it’s Isadore. at last!” "Yes,” said Finlay, “it's Isadore. at last!" Then he described the events of the past weeks while Mc Nab, drawing furiously on his pipe, punctuated the narrative with out raged grunts. "That’s the story, McNab. For the present, not a word, even to your wife. When can you send a canoe to the railroad?” "We’re sending one shortly,” he said. “But their firing on you on the Nottaway, then ambushing you, and you supposed to be on the gov ernment survey! I can’t get over it. Sergeant! Of course I’d heard at the railroad of these reported drown ings and had had my suspicions.” “They didn’t believe we were on the survey,” replied Finlay. Into his gray eyes crept the mist of memory. His voice was rough with pain as he asked: “Did those boys stop here last summer?" "Yes. Nice boys, too!” "One was my brother.” "Your brother? Oh, I’m sorry! You didn’t say one was your broth er when you told of finding their bodies.” “No.” "It’s tough. Sergeant Finlay, damned tough! That crook—” Me Nab stopped his pacing to stand over Garry and shake a thick fin ger. “Why—why the man’s a luna tic—mad as a hermit wolf! He can’t get away with this!” "He’s managed to so far.” McNab’s face filled with blood as his anger increased. “I’ve seen a lot—guessed a lot, since the Com pany sent me here three years ago to try to save the trade on this lake. We learned that Tete-Blanche was bribing our hunters with whiskey to leave us and trade their fur with Isadore. I reported it to the Com pany and the authorities. His freight was searched at Nottaway but they found nothing. They thought I was trying to hurt him because he was a competitor, and dropped it. I was reprimanded by our District In spector for bringing charges 1 couldn’t prove. Couldn’t prove?” snorted McNab. “I had all the proof in the world.” (TO BE CONTINUED) That Old Black Lace Shawl Is Right in Style This Season By CHERIE NICHOLAS WHEN those cherished bids to yuletide parties begin to ar rive, when those coveted invitations to smart afternoon affairs await ac ceptance, then it is that fancy turns to visions of pretty clothes that will make you look your prettiest. To these ever-recurring “what-to wear” problems, lace, always a gallant flatterer, brings one of the happiest solutions fashion has to of fer this winter. It is not only that the charm of lace ever makes re sistless appeal, but this season the use of lace takes on new empha sis. Modern laces are so diverse in type and in kind there’s literally a lace for every mood and mode, whether informal or ever so formal. This adaptability of lace is a most convincing “reason why” it is more widely a favorite among designers than ever. It can be made to fit modest budgets and simple occa sions successfully and glamorously. A wise supplement to any ward robe that must include a “pretty pretty” informal frock that is not expensive is the model shown to the left in the illustration. You can get this very wearable oak-leaf pat terned lace in a long list of delec table colors, and the dress will al ways be ready for any occasion. The bodice is horizontally tucked in a new treatment and is made smooth by a dainty slide fastener. A taffeta bow gives it a final fillip. Count it among your blessings if you are so fortunate as to have willed to you a handsome black lace shawl or shawl-scarf. Now is the psychological moment to release this priceless heirloom from its lavender-scented wrappings, for be guiling mantilla effects like that pic tured to the right in the illustration are recapturing the charm and ro mance of yesterday and bringing their allure to modern fashion. One sees these charming lace fantasies everywhere in the current formal fashion picture, either worn over the head as here illustrated, or thrown artfully and casually over the shoulders to serve graciously as a light evening wrap. The black velvet gown so alluringly veiled in this lovely shadowy Chantilly lace scarf makes simplicity its theme. Petite black lace edging finishes off the low decolletage, while wide bands of the velvet are brought up to each shoulder top where they tie in intriguing big bows. Youthful party dresses of filmy Chantilly lace in lovely pastel shades are given high fashion rat ing this season. The bouffant dance frock centered above in the group is of flesh toned Chantilly, the mesh of which is as delicate and elusive as a silken cobweb. The corselet waistline is banded in taffeta, which also defines the pleated shoulder ruf fles and appears, as trimming, on the skirt. Scores of charming lace fantasies are being shown for sophisticated moments at opera, banquet and ball. There are tiny black lace calots with a metallic weave and sequin-sown edge. You can buy gay gauntlet gloves made all of lace for the dashing and the debonair. Black lace mitts are shown that boast a double tier of lace reaching to the elbows. The new lace eve ning handkerchiefs are luxuriously fragile with lace and chiffon. And for the romantic touch, see the new lace muffs. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) Wide Peasant Belt To Match Hat Band In the way of accessory items, a j new twosome has been brought out ! this season that will add intrigue to I many a daytime costume. This gay and flattering alliance consists of a ' wide colorful felt or leather belt embroidered in peasant colors, to 1 gether with a matching band to en j circle the crown of your nonchalant i felt hat. Also available is a corselet that laces up the front in a vestee effect. The bright colors of this felt or leather corselet add gaiety and chic to the simplest wool dress or skirt. This Veil Can Tic Useful As Well as Ornamental Tiny hats set back of the pompa dour are a welcome fashion. They are purposefully designed to give full play to the costume. In fact, milliners are more and more in clined to design headwear that re veals the hair-do. A new venture in veils is the trick of enveloping a tiny hat in a filmy black Chantilly, bringing the ends down at the back to form a voluminous snood to pro tect the hair, yet reveal it through lace mesh in all its charm and prettiness. You Just Cant Wear Too Many Gadgets These Days If you are properly fashion-wise you will wear not one but several pieces of lapel jewelry—all at the same time! Designed for this popu lar vogue, tiny lapel pins are sell ing in sets of 10 different gadgets, or they can be bought singly with the thought in mind of collecting them as one does charms for brace let or necklace. These sets, worked out in bright colored enamel set with tiny jewels, are very effective. You can get floral designs, jeweled beetles, bugs, butterflies and hum ming birds. Head Lines Treat your face like a picture, and wear a hat as a frame to en hance its beauty. A hat is a line, a silhouette, and through the hat a “square” face may be made to ap pear oval, which is supposed to be the perfect type. Here the black felt hat shown at the top in the pic ture rolls up at one side and forms a soft peak at the center front to extend nature’s line. Then, too, a good rule is to wear hats to bring out the beauty of your coloring. The felt and feather hat shown below in the picture is a creamy beige all the way through, and it makes the skin look its best. In any case, the trick is to treat your face as though it were a pic ture. By VIRGINIA VALE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) CUNNING Nancy Walker is the latest Broadwayite to win Hollywood favor. Nancy’s busy at present with a fea tured role in the stage suc cess, “Best Foot Forward,” and will report at the Metro studios when the final curtain comes down on that delightful comedy, in which she is mak ing her theatrical debut. —*— Want to go Into the movies, girls? The best advice would seem to be ‘‘Get a job as an airline steward ess." Mary Sheppard is the latest recruit who took that route; she was taken off an airliner and given the lead role in Pete Smith's short, "What About Daddy?" -* Robert Benchley’s all set to be a but man. All set for the role of a stage producer in Paramount’s "Out of the Frying Pan,” he discovered that he was also booked to be Rosa ROBERT BENCHLEY Lind Russell's business partner in “Take a Letter, Darling,” the two Aims to be made simultaneously. A bicycle or a motor-driven wheel chair seems to be the only solution to the problem of getting from set to set. -Sfc When you see "Louisiana Pur chase” take a long look at Jean Wallace "Mrs. Franchot Tone” and Lynda Gray. They’re New Orleans belles in the picture, and Para mount liked them so much that they've just been given new con tracts. -* Asta, famous canine of "The Thin Man” series, has a plaque all his own, to hang in his dog house. It was awarded by the McKinley Ken nel club of Canton, Ohio, for "out standing service to canine friends and the work he has done to gain appreciation for all dogdom.” The perfect retort from all the rest of dogdom Is, of course, that few dogs belong to people like Myrna Loy. —*— Nelson Eddy has co-starred with Jeanette MacDonald in eight films, but only recently found out what she really looked like. During the film ing of their recent picture, "I Mar ried an Angel,” he asked if he might model a head of her. "You never know what a person looks like till you paint or model that person,” said he. Seems that her jaw line wasn’t as he’d remembered it, and her eyes were set differently. Said she, “He knows what I look like nowl He peered at me so much and so long that 1 was embarrassed.” -* David James, the 11-month-old baby whom Marlene Dietrich was carrying in her arms when she tripped over a light cable and broke her leg, recently resumed his film career, in Rosalind Russell’s new picture. This time Fred MacMur ray toted him. -* Charles Laughton sort of startles the onlookers nowadays when he shows up for that radio program he's doing with Milton Berle. He looks like a Forty-niner, with an inch-long beard and a month’s growth of hair—both required for his role in RKO’s “Tuttles of Tahiti.” Incidentally, if Laughton goes on making pictures he’ll be an expert dancer; he learned the conga for “It Started With Eve,” and the hula for this new picture; he did the hula recently at a broadcast rehear sal, with Shirley Ross playing ”Aloha Oe” on the piano. ■ t~ Jack Benny has never lived down his “Buck Benny” routines that were featured on his NBC series a few seasons ago, and later incorporated into one of his motion pictures. “Buck” has become his nickname— the rest of the cast never calls him anything else. -* ODDS AND ENDS—Several well known singers will be starred in the new musical program, as yet untitled, which makes its bow on CDS January 7th . , . William L. Shirer always holds an informal discussion of internation al affairs after his broadcast . . . Ann Shepherd, of “Joyce Jordan—Girl In terne,” posed for publicity pictures at a New York hospital recently, and now she’s “interned” for all her spare time. . . . Irene Rich, famous on both radio and screen, has been given a leading role in Metro’s “Just Between Us” , . . Babe Ruth has finally signed to play himself in “The Life of Lou Gehrig." Farm Topics f FARM PRIORITIES ARE EXPLAINED Individual Ratings Are Not Needed for Some Items. By M. CLIFFORD TOWNSEND (Dirtctot. OMc• o/ Agncultural Dtttni* Ralatioat.) Individual farmers are not re quired to have priority ratings of any kind under the defense pro gram in order to purchase ordinary farm machinery, equipment, repair parts, fertilizers, insecticides, nails, fencing, roofing or similar items. Priority ratings on equipment and supplies such as these are issued by the Office of Production Man agement to manufacturers, proces sors and warehousemen in order to avoid having individuals obtain rat ings. So far as the individual farmer is concerned, he does not have to have a priority rating of any kind to buy his ordinary requirements. There may be things he mny not be able to get, such as aluminum pressure cookers, but in cases like this the manufacturer and not the individual farmer is the one af fected by the priority rating. On special classes of machinery which are used for purposes other than farming, such as heavy duty elec tric motors, a preference rating will be necessary. This can be applied for on what is known as a PD-1 form obtainable from the Of fice of Production Management A number of letters have been re ceived from farmers saying their lo cal retailers had advised them it was necessary to secure a “priority rating” before making certain pur chases. Individual farmers who are asked to secure “priority ratings” before making purchases of ordinary equipment or supplies should advise the department of agriculture im mediately of the name and address of the dealer and the product on which a priority rating was re quested. There’s no sense in put ting farmers to any more trouble than necessary to get the things they need for food production and we want a chance to explain to the retailers that a "priority rating” is not needed for purchase of prod ucts at retail by individuals for or dinary farm or household use. Blood Transfusions Save Farm Animals Blood transfusions, which have saved the lives of thousands of hu man beings, are now also saving the lives of thousands of dogs, horses, and farm animals—and are being more widely used in veter inary science every day. “Ring," a collie dog at Waterloo, Iowa, for instance, has given blood to help save the lives of 20 other dogs in the last five years. He gives about a pint of blood for each transfusion and has suffered no ill effect from it, except for a strong craving for water for several days after each transfusion. Transfusions are also being used for the treatment of navel ill in colts, where it is said that improve ment is generally noted within 24 hours after injection of a pint of blood from the dam into the blood stream of the colt. In cases of calf scour, the blood from the dam is also used with excellent results. Sometimes veterinarians also use saline and dextrose solution as a supporting treatment. In cases of sweet clover poison ing, blood from a herd of cattle which has not had access to clover is now being used to prevent fatali ties among clover-poisoned animals. Although veterinary scientists are unwilling to make definite claims in the matter, according to the Amer ican Foundation for Animal Health, they also say fhat blood from nor mal or pregnant animals will some times overcome certain types of sterility in cattle. The precautions necessary in hu man transfusions are also necessary in treating animals. With animals, as with human beings, the blood is seldom transfused directly from one body to another. It is usually drawn into a sterile container before be ing injected into the sick animal. It is interesting to note that as new discoveries are made in med ical science, they are closely paral leled by similar findings in veteri nary science. The American vet erinary practitioner is far ahead of other countries in this respect, and his advance in scientific research is perhaps one of the reasons why American livestock is so much bet ter protected from the ravages of diseases and epizootics than the stock of other nations. Cows make their best and most profitable production at from seven to nine years of age, according to a recent study. • » • A cotton-bagging-for-cotton-bales program, calling for the manufac ' ture and sale of up to 2,000,000 cot ton ‘‘patterns” or bale covers, has been announced by the U. S. depart ment of agriculture.