Adventure Magazine Cover, March 20, 1925 — page 172: what you’re looking at

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

154 factor, Hugh Munroe, beside the stove in the big store. 3 Zotique was puffing with satisfaction at a venerable pipe, a haze of smoke already around him. His mackinaw and moccasins were cast aside and he sat there comfortably, in his shirt sleeves, his stockinged feet near the fire, while Munroe, elaborately casual, tipped back in his chair and waited for Zotique to speak—which would be when Zotique had the chill out of his bones and when the tobacco rendered him content; not before. So Munroe, a ruddy, broad-shouidered young man, rolled himself a cigaret and whistled idly, as if it mattered not to him if Zotique should decide not to talk at all. “T go see four, fi’ Injuns,”’ said the French Canadian at last, fingering the stubble of beard on his chin. 6 And———”’ “Alj tell same ting. Dat feller Joe Moon take away all furs dey got.” “With money or booze?” “Mos’ time whisky blanc. Sometime money—not much.” ‘““Flow far up did you go?” “Not ver’ far. I only go up Spruce Lake, den I go back in from river for see Injuns. All say same t’ing, so I tell me, ‘What’s de use go any farder?’ So I come back an’ tol’ you.” “You did right, Zotique. That was all I wanted to know—if Joe Moon was out again this winter.”’ “Oh, dat feller out again, you bet. Him worse dan evaire. Dose pore —— of Injun, he get dem so dronk dey not know what dey do and den he go ’way wit’ deir fur. Sacrél Dat feller Joe Moon should be pinch, eh?”’ Zotique spat against the stove to express his hatred for the villainous Joe Moon, and puffed ferociously at his pipe. For Joe Moon and his liquor were causing trouble. ” ka a great giant of a man, evil, un- s scrupulous, and wise in al] the ways of the north, had come to the Missabi section. Where he had come from no one knew, but so forbidding was Joe Moon, and so callous was he to all the laws of God and man, that none dared inquire. It was said that he had been hounded out of Northern Quebec by the redcoats. Hard THE winter previous, Joe Moon, | Adventure as Jron, contemptuous of all the perils of the trails, Joe Moon had arrived in the Missabi region and had turned to a means of Jiveli- hood which bade fair to net him a fortune unless the redcoats learned of it and turned their attention to him again. Going up into the fur country in the depth of winter, Joe Moon took with him whisky blanc to trade with the Indians, and they, weak in the face of temptation, readily gave him their furs for the liquor. Not always was it whisky blanc, quite frequently it was mere rot-gut, and not always did the In- dians desire to trade, but a few friendly drinks—and they would part with furs, with anything they had, for more. Joe Moon traveled tirelessly back and forth on many trips, each time bringing out a great load of furs to be sold to the Jewish buyers at the railway, east of Wakina. He avoided the trading post for he knew he was ex- ploiting the Indians without compunction and he knew that he was ruining the fur trade of the Northland Company at Wakina. “Last season was bad, Zotique,’’ said Munroe reflectively, as he blew a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. “YT guess she was worse ever seen here, eh?” “The worst ever. And it looks as if this season will be just as bad.” “Dat pretty tough for you, yes?” “It’s worse than that.” It would be pretty tough for him. Munroe, the youngest factor in the service of the Northland Company, was facing a problem which threatened to oust him from a posi- tion for which he had worked hard and served well. He had been placed in charge at Wakina the previous winter, after five seasons as assistant in another company post on the line of the railway, and his first year of responsibility had been one of utter failure. It had been so bad that the big chief in Montreal had written him a tart and uncompromising letter, hinting that an- other such season would mean his finish. And now Zotique Larose brought him news which seemed to indicate just that consummation. It was not his fault; but the big chief in Montreal did not look for causes. He Jooked for results, and the man who could not produce them was cast out forthwith. The Big Chief in Montreal would not have understood if he had been told, how Joe Moon could wreck the once flourishing fur GOMIGIOO (C©