Adventure Magazine Cover, April 3, 1918 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

22 ~ Flying canoes and racing fireline were meeting at tremendous speed, but as if the fireline were standing still, the faster crea- tures of the forest broke from cover and passed the whizzing canoes. Like scurry- ing Autumnal leaves the lesser birds flew through the rolling smoke pall. Wedges of geese and ducks drove by on whistling wings. Coveys of partridges flushed with a drum-like roaring. Palpitant hares spurned the ground in fear-mad leaps. Squirrels, chattering, demented, hurled themselves across the latticework of branches. The lordly caribou, antlers back and noses outstreched, crashed up- stream like bombshells through the forest growth. Amid a demoniacal tumult of earth and air they struck the fireline. A mass of blaz- ing limbs whirled down and lodged on the bow of the Factor’s canoe. Like tinder the dry birch-bark flared up, but Waseya- win, bare-handed, cast the burning débris off and with a scoop of his paddle dashed a gallon of water on the flaring bow. The blaze sputtered out with a malig- nant hiss. The Cree dug in his blade, and the next moment the craft leaped out of the seething inferno into a strangely-quiet reach of stream where the smoking, ash- filmed ground lay white as snow and the blackened trees slid by like specters wink- ing red-hot eyes at every puff of wind. CHAPTER V THE ILIAD OF THE FOREST ‘“TOAN, are you burned at all?’”’ demanded Carlisle, throwing the half -charred blanket aside. ‘Scorched even? Hair—face —hands?”’ The girl drew the sweet, smokeless air into her lungs with a gasp. “No, Paul, no,’ she assured him. ‘The flames never touched me. Are you all right—and my father and Father Andrews and the rest?” ‘“‘All safe, apparently! There’ll be singed heads and blistered skins for a while, but everybody’s come through fine.” “Aye,” murmured Father Andrews, “they have—by the grace of God.” “And Mason,” supplemented Wayne from Drummond’s canoe behind. “By Jove, yes, by grace of Mason too!” Carlisle lauded. “If it hadn’t been for Adventure Mason we might not have tried to run the gantlet.”’ ‘“‘That’s what I was thar fer, to give ye the word,” grinned Mason. ‘Ye see, they had a celebrashun fer the McKenzies, McLeod, McDougall and Richelieu when they left Grande Portage fer the Athabasky. Everybody got roarin’ drunk, and some- body left the bar off the door of our cellar. ‘Thompson dropped a word about ye git- tin’ away, Wayne, with Hudson’s Bay men bound into the Saskatchewan, so on course we got out of the cellar at dark and stole canoes, rifles and grub to last and follered them drunk cusses up the Pigeon. We figgered yer party’d come in by the Kamin- istiquia, and we soon seen Richelieu fig- gered so too. They traveled like hell-fire, aimin’ to head ye off and git to the Winni- peg River first. “They done it all right and barricaded her and lay by fer two days, and when they bushwhacked ye jist now we had to chase them with fire. She’ll heel them miles back to the Pechilaux and Red Sand Rivers comin’ in on either bank. She’ll stop thar, I calkilate. Hullo! Thar’s my men on the shore. ‘Time too, fer this cussed canoe’s goin’ down.” Lea’s craft had already gone. Drum- mond’s settled by the river margin amid all the swimmers from the other crafts, and all pulled themselves out dripping upon the ashy shore where waited Wayne’s men of the Mississippi, men of the Missouri, men of the Red, along with his Stony Crees and Chippewayans. Wayne stamped the water off as he made his way along the bank to the Factor’s canoe, still sound and strong, where it lay grazing the river rocks, “Well,” he laughed grimly, his fawn- green eyes glowing into Carlisle’s where the latter sat amidships, “‘fire is always a man’s friend if it’s properly used, and I guess it’s my friend right here.”’ “You mean “ “Of course I mean that. I’m the Big Chief now, and it’s my turn to powwow. Your crew of six have their arms left. The arms of all the other crews are at the Winni- peg’s bottom. You can’t stand up against my thirty-two armed men. So tell your paddlers to step out with their hands up!’’ “Wik! Wik!’ Carlisle yelled sharply to his crew. Swift as lightning they dipped their GOMIIGIOO S (C©