Part 12 (1/2)
lingo at me I can't fathom”
”A Injun lass!” exclaimed dick ”What's she doin' there, now? An'
where's Bob an' Shad?”
”Yes, a Injun lass,” said Ed impatiently, ”an' what she's doin' you'll have t' find out It seems like she's achin' t' tell somethin' I'm not seein' Bob an' Shad”
”They et th'
cargo ashore, an' I'll find out what 'tis;” and dick hurried up the trail past Ed, towhere Ed had left her, and dick asked kindly in Indian:
”Whatto her white brothers?”
”Listen!” she cohter of Sishetakushi+n, whose lodge is pitched on the shores of the Great Lake, to the north Yesterday soe of ens!” exclai the interruption, ”that five suns back they had found a lodge built where the big river broadens The lodge was newly e, for it was built of trees The e that was once used by my people It is above the place where evil spirits dwell”
”How ain interrupting
”Six,” she answered promptly ”While they waited thite men passed with a painted canoe and much provisions Then, while they still waited, the white uns at the white men Then the evil spirits that dhere the river falls reached up for the canoe and dragged it down to the place of thunder
”I have come to tell you this, and to ask if White Brother of the Snow and his friend are here All night and all day have I travelled, for I am afraid for White Brother of the Snow He has lived in the lodge of Sishetakushi+n, my father He is one of my people, and I am afraid for hiestures, and her intensely earnest manner left no doubt in dick Blake's mind that she spoke the truth Neither had he any doubt that she referred to Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge as the thite ion, or, he was sure, within several hundred miles of the place, at the time to which she referred
”No,” said he, after a moment's pause, ”White Brother of the Snow and his friend are not with us”
”They are not here!” she wailed, lifting her aresture of despair ”Where is he? Tell me! It was not White Brother of the Snow sent to the torment of evil spirits?”
”I'm afraid, Manikawan, it was There were no other white men here than White Brother of the Snow and his friend”
Manikawan's hands dropped at her side, and for an instant she stood, a picture of rief But it was for only an instant
Then her face grew hard and vengeful, and in low, even tones she said:
”These men of the South killed White Brother of the Snow They are no longer of my people They must die”
”They must die,” echoed dick
”Co it on her back
”No, ill rest to-night, and to- for the chase to-morrow,” dick counselled, kindly, as she turned toward the portage trail leading around the rapids
”I cannot rest,” she answered ”I go now;” and like a shadow, and as silently, shedick Blake's heart was full of vengeance, as he strode down the trail to rejoin his coet rid of, now?” asked Ed Matheson, pausing in his work of unloading the canoe as dick appeared
”Bob an' Shad's dead!” announced dick bluntly