CHAPTER VII? Continued
? 9 ?
And ' Rickman ran into water to
his knees, clasped the lieutenant's
hand with a fervor which matched
the tone of his words.
Up the lake shore the glow of a
great Ore stained tree tops and
spread across the water, lacquering
it in black and gold. Drums sound
ed and the nasal voices of native
women singing in chorus reached
them, punctuated by shrill whoops.
The grand medicine was in prog
ress. The rum which Rodney had
promised was taking hold on hearts
and tongues.
Rickman explained this to Capes'
query and rubbed his hands.
"He'll be there," he said. "The
renegade, he'll be watching the
dance! A fitting moment to drag
him to answer this charge. Capes I"
"Tonight? He doesn't suspect pur
suit, does he? My men are worn.
Homing will do, surely, and ? "
"You may have been seen I And
if word reached Shaw that soldiery
is at hand? What then. Capes?"
"But to march among the Indi
ans with muskets? They're drunk,
by the sounds. It might mean dis
aster, Rickman!"
"You mistake my meaning. We
can go to Shaw's gate by following
the shore. The place will be guard
ed. I'll reveal myself and tell the
guard I want word with Shaw. That
will bring him. Yes, and on the
run!"
He shrugged his shoulders and
lifted upturned palms in significant
gesture.
"We may as well be done with
this, I suppose," Capes said and
paused because a figure was run
ning toward him up the slope; a
small, cloaked figure.
"Lieutenant Capes? Lieutenant
Capes?"
A woman? Calling for him? Here
in this wilderness fort?
They'd had no warning whatever
that Annette Leclere was here, that
she was running breathlessly up the
slope, once she learned Capes'
whereabouts.
"Lieutenant Capes?" she cried
again but it was Burke Rickman
who spoke.
"Annette!"
She came to a halt before them,
one hand against the door frame
for support, the other holding the
long, maroon cloak close about her
throat. Silence. Dumbfounded si
lence. And Capes, confused by the
tableau, stammered:
"Ma'm'selle! Where did you . . .
what brings you . .
"Orders, Lieutenant I I bring you
orders from the commandante ! "
She fumbled within the cloak as
she spoke and brought out and
thrust toward him a limp, frayed
packet.
"Orders? What orders do you
bring me, M'm'selle?"
"Orders calling you back," she
said in a whisper, as if the comple
tion of her errand had drained all
the remaining strength from her
body. "Orders revoking the orders
that . . . brought you here."
She swayed then despite her hand
on the wall and might have fallen
had not Capes stepped quickly to
ward her, shoving the stupefied
Hickman from his way, and en
circled her shoulders with an arm.
Rickman'a mouth opened but no
words came.
"From the beginning this charge
against him has been known to be
absurd," she said easily. "But still,
with the persuasion and persistence
put behind the effort to ruin Rodney
Shaw, the officials have not had the
courage to follow any other course
until Giles spoke."
"Giles?"
"Giles! The man has been as
frightened of company vengeance
as any other. But when it became
known that Rodney bad bested you
here. Burke Rickman; when the last
unfair move in the cruel game you
play was made apparent . . then
forces were brought to bear upon
Giles which brought from him the
truth.
"Then," she said, "the problem
was to overtake you. Lieutenant,
and stop this unwarranted and
disgraceful arrest. There was none
to come. A detachment had been
ordered to Detroit. The major could
spare no men. Someone had to
come and . . . there was no one
else." Her voice broke and she
?wallowed bravely.
"FooUl" moaned Rickman. "It
can't be I It's not believable that
any such order could have been is
sued 1 I demand. Capes, that you
read that order I" The other drew
himself up. "I read It," he said stiff
ly, "but not because of your de
mands, Rickman. Please under
stand, I know my duty I"
It would peel a man's ears, the
major bad declared to Annette, and
aurely it had effect on the ears of
this young lieutenant because his
ears reddened as he scanned the
lines of script.
. will disregard order to
bring the alleged fugitive Shaw to
Michilimackinac . . will conduct
yourself as though you were un
aware of traders' contentions . . .
will return to this post immedi
ately with do delay* for any reason
whatsoever . .
Capes folded the sheet slowly,
thrust it into a tunic pocket. He
drew a deep breath, as of relief,
and settled his belt decisively.
One of Rickman's hands twitched
upward as though a blow had stung
him. The lieutenant stepped past
him, confronting Annette. He was
puzzled, glanced briefly at Rick
man, and addressed the girl.
"In a place of contention such as
this," he said, "an island encamp
ment seems advisable for a mili
tary party. May I . . . may I offer
the security of my detachment as
a neighbor? Or ... or are there
other plans?"
"I thank you, Lieutenant," she
said, her gaze going to Burke Rick
man. Then, significantly: "I will
follow directly."
Capes hesitated, then bowed and
disappeared through the doorway.
CHAPTER VIII
The girl stood there, holding the
cloak about her, facing Rickman.
"Annette? This . . . this means
what?"
"That at last I can speak truth!"
she said, "after these weeks of
shame and humiliation. Two great
privileges have come to me tonight.
The one is in that I have repaired,
as far as it could be repaired, a
And There Wildly Dancing Was
Running Fox.
great wrong which I did Rodney
Shaw. The other is that I can con
fess to you the falsity of my words
at our last meeting. From the hour
I struck at Rodney by betraying
his plan to you I was in misery.
And that morning of your de
parture, when you came to me for
your farewells . . . when I begged
you to remain; when I embraced
you and kissed you," ? with a shud
der ? "I was only acting a part."
"Acting?"
"Acting, Burke, to save my . . .
the man I love."
"All I wanted you to believe that
day was that I desired you. to stay.
I loathed you, I hated you, but I
wanted you to delay, that Rod
ney might have some chance to
capture the thing he wanted so!"
, She spoke that, slowly, with great
intensity.
"So that's your object, eh?" the
trader cried, grasping her shoulder.
"So you confess to me your love for
this upstart? You make this jour
ney to save him and humble me?
Is that it? Well, if that's it?"
"Burke! Let go! You hurtl"
"D' you think I'll let you have
him? D' you think I'll let him have
you? Why, if it takes the last breath
that floods this throat I'll wipe this
upstart out and leave for you not
the memory of a strutting fool but
of a corpse, spoiling in this wilder
ness!"
"Burke!" Her cry was faint and
she wrenched in his grasp. His fin
gers slipped from their grip on her
arms, caught the cloak and as she
writhed out of it and stumbled free
he flung the garment behind him
into the room.
"With soldiery here, you'd do
that?" she cried and her words
stayed him.
"Do you think that after this
forced march, the military will re
turn at once?" she taunted. "Men
must rest, after such effort. And
while they rest, warning will be
given. Be assured of that. Burke
Rickman. Sufficient warning will be
given and protection for decent men
will be at hand!"
She backed a step or two, turned,
began to walk down the slope and
broke into a run.
Annette found Capes awaiting her
on the shore.
Would it bt distasteful for his
party to encamp near hers? he
asked. She protested that it would
be reassuring and comforting.
"Then we'll move out to one of
the islands," he said. "And be
fore dawn, we'll leave this place
behind I" ? thankfully.
She gave him ? curious look but,
for the time, made no remon
strance . . .
And so a trader paced the beach,
poison seeping through his veins,
gnawing his lips, muttering to him,
self, smiting the sand in helpless
spite with his moccasined heels. An
enraged beast, this Burke Rickman.
Up and down he paced, heedless
of the growing clamor from the
gathering of Pillagers. Rickman
had not detected the alterations in
the sounds from the calumet. The
throb of drums, the chants of wom
en, had grown louder and faster
with the passage of time. Occasion
al whoops and yelps had grown to
a continuous chorus of boastful
cries. And then, of a sudden, it
climaxed in an ensemble of screams
and screeches and dwindled sud
denly to no more than a mur
mur . . .
At dusk the drums had begun to
sound, women seated in a wide cir
cle about the post and fire, beating
the tightly stretched skins with their
palms, chanting to the measure
they set of the greatness of all Pil
lagers.
The old men danced into the cir
cle, stomping, bending forward then
back, uttering valiant cries, swing
ing near and nearer the post as they
sometimes sang, sometimes shouted
to their own greatness.
Younger men trickled in, singing
and shouting of their achievements
until the space about the fire was
filled with prancing, slowly swirl
ing bodies.
Up and up to an unplanned crisis,
the savage spectacle pitched itself.
Up and up went the tempo of the
orgy; louder the singing, faster the
drum beats, broader the boast
ing . .
And now beside the post danced
Running Fox, the son of Flat Mouth,
beating the ground with his heels,
not lifting the balls of his feet.
"Ee-eyah!" he cried and struck
the post with his half axe and told
of the wolf he had caught with bare
hands.
"Ee-e-yah!" he screamed and
struck again and shouted that he
had outrun a frightened deer.
Another youth danced close, head
almost to his knees, stomping and
gasping a song. Mongazid. this, in
from his summer hunt with his
mind, until rum fuddled it, filled
with thoughts of his chosen maid,
Nodding Spruce.
"Ee-e-yah!" cried Running Fox
again as Mongazid raised his torso
and bent it far backward from the
hips. But on the movement he
caught sight of Nodding Spruce, her
teeth gleaming as she beat a drum
and swayed and sang. She was so
lovely, so desirable; and the thought
of the presents it would take to win
her father's favor cleared the boy's
stupefied brain for a moment, drove
back even the frenzy of the calu
met
And there wildly dancing was Run
ning Fox, son of a chief, who on
occasion looked tenderly at the girl
and who now shouted his boastful
lies. Mongazid stopped his dancing
as Running Fox shouted another
boast. He swayed drunkenly before
the son of the chief.
"The forked tongue!" he cried.
"It was not Running Fox who
clubbed the bear. It was Monga
zid! It was Mongazid, and Running
Fox would steal the glory of a broth
er!"
He dropped his axe, and fumbled
in his girdle. The trade knife
gleamed in his hand as, furious,
he launched himself upon his tribes
man. The steel crunched across a
rib, plunging to the hilt, and as
Mongazid wrenched it free, a crim
son gush bathed the other's breast.
He stood an instant and then with
a brave cry, collapsed beside the
post.
That caused the quick silence;
that brought them crowding close.
?
giving Mongazid opportunity to slip
away. And when they had lifted
the lolling head and saw that the
flow of life was running into sands ,
instead of limbs, the wailing be
gan ...
It was that wailing which Anally
attracted Burke Rickman's atten
tion.
He stared, scowling, toward the
scene of wailing and it was then
that he made out a* canoe coming
toward him from the westward, sil
houetted against the Are glow.
"Who are you?" Rtckman asked.
"Mongazid, trader. I come for
the shelter of the company trad
er's lodge."
Rickman grunted. He owed Mon
gazid nothing. The youth had re
fused to trade with him but a few
days before.
"Speak quickly, then," he
growled.
"I go to the company house be
cause I have poured sand over the
son of Flat Mouth, who is the broth
er of your enemy."
Rickman grunted. "Killed Flat
Mouth's son?"
"It is so. It was the dance of
the Calumet. Running Fox boasted
lies; he took the glory from my
song with his lies. When I heard
him stealing my great deeds my
knife struck deep to his heart. I
lay in the darkness a long time.
Flat Mouth went to his lodge to
meditate while they wailed. Then
he came back and stood by his son's
body. He made a talk. He said
that for killing his son I nfust bring
him three packs of beaver before
the leaves come again. If I do not
I must bare my breast for his knife.
If I do not come for that he will
take the life of my brother. The
company trader's heart has much
room. I come to him to be his
slave if he will save me from my
enemies who are his enemies. I
cannot live alone."
Scowling, Rickman listened. Here
was a native in need; here was ?
hunter whose life was at stake
and one in such a strait may be
used. Inspiration swept and shook
him, making his mouth dry.
"Mongazid sees with a clear eye,"
he said. "He can never escape the
fury of Flat Mouth alone. He was
wise to come to the house of the great
company. In the trade it is skin for
skin. In your trouble it is a life for
a life. Open your ears," he said
and stepped closer and looked about
and spoke softly.
Mongazid listened, betraying no
emotion. When Rickman had fin
ished he grunted.
"My life for the little trader's life
it is. But the hunters are his
friends. The old men are his broth
ers. Mongazid would not live to
come for the three packs of beaver
you promise."
The young man could not Invade
Fort Shaw and slay the master. He
could not stalk him where others
were about. The problem, then,
was to entice Shaw away, to give
Mongazid's trade gun a chance be
yond observation. And, at the same
time, arrange the circumstances so
that he, Rickman, would be above
suspicion . . .
"Wait here," Rickman said grim
ly: "Let no eye see you. Lie in
these bushes and I will come. Flam
ing Hair will make the way smooth
for Mongazid to earn his packs of
beaver I"
Conrad Rich rolled from his blan
kets at Rickman's barked word.
"Into your clothes, man! and get
Philippe."
And so three men, one fearful,
one bewildered, one silent and in
tent, went hastily along the shore
toward Fort Shaw.
"The guard is alone," Rickman
whispered. "He stands there with
the gate wide. The place is emp
ty; the others are watching the
mourning. Come!"
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Indians Linked With East in Trick in
War Songs; Japanese Used Same Scheme
Even in their music, American
Indians have preserved small clues
suggesting oriental ancestry. Not
that Indians are to be thought of
as descendants from Chinese or
Japanese civilization. Their stem
ming off from an ancestral tree goes
far back to Mongolian-type tribes
that roamed to the northeast tip of
Siberia and thence, from time to
time, crossed into the northwest tip
of Alaska.
After that they were Americans,
and their descendants "Indians.'*
They brought some crafts and cus
toms with them. They learned many
new ones in America, and some
groups like the Mayas evolved high
civilization.
Anthropologists are greatly in tar
es ted to detect what Indians owed
to Asia, and from what parts of that
homeland they gleaned their old cul
ture. *
Now, it develops that Indians in
the Southwest had a psychological
trick in war songs, of raising the
song a semi-tons as it progressed
and keeping it there to the end. It
was exciting. And remarkably
enough Japanese used the tame de
vice in stirring warrior* by song.
Miss Prances Densmore, who has
studied music of many Indian
tribes, first noted this similarity
when Pueblos were singing old war
songs recently for her to record, re
ports a writer in the Kansas City
Star. Reporting this and other sim
ilarities between Indian and Old
World music. Miss Densmore dis
claims any intent to theorize on the
Indians' past. She is merely pre
senting facts, which may have sig
nificance.
From an authority on oriental
music. Miss Densmore learned the
Japanese got the idea of raised
pitch in war singing from Chinese
priests, who brought it from India in
the Seventh century. If Pueblo an
cestors got the ides from a common
source ? or Invented it ? in the Old
World, that must have happened far
earlier. Pueblos were well estab
lished in the Southwest by that time
Keeping Up
? Science Service.? WNU Service.
Crows Are Enemies
of the Wild Ducks
in Breeding Season
Control Methods Are
Recommended by Expert
Washington. ? Crows are ma
jor enemies of wild ducks in at
least a part of the great wild
duck breeding grounds in Can
ada, a survey by E. R. Kalm
bach of the United States bio
logical survey shows.
Of 312 duck nests studied, 31 per
cent (156 nests) had been ravaged
by crows. Other causes of destruc
tion had accounted for another 20
per cent of loss, so that of all the
nests that started the season with
hopeful batches of eggs, only 49 per
cent turned out live ducklings.
It is possible, however, Mr.
Kalmbacb notes, that part of the
egg destruction by crows might
have been wreaked after the parent
ducks had abandoned the nests for
other causes.
Furthermore, he cautions, this
survey was made in a part of the
nesting area where the crow con
centration is unusually high, and
where a large duck population of
fers unusually great temptation to
raid for eggs.
Bow They Should Be Controlled.
For practical control purposes,
Mr. Kalmbach recommends :
"Crow-control operations on duck
breeding grounds should by all
means be entrusted only to those
who fully recognize the hazards as
sociated with human intrusion on
waterfowl nesting grounds. The
work should not be carried out
haphazard or by mass action de
void of careful supervision. There
should, in fact, be solicitude for the
privacy of every nesting duck.
"At winter crow roosts, where
control is possible at a lower cost
per bird, the benefits with respect
to waterfowl are, in turn, less di
rect, sihce only a part of the birds
present at these roosts actually en
ter the problem of crow-waterfowl
relationships on the breeding
grounds.
Upper Cambrian May Have
Had Land Plant Life
Cambridge, Mas*.? Plant* have
lived on land many million* of
years longer than is commonly
supposed, if fossil plant remain* ex
amined by William C. Darrah of
the Harvard Botanical museum here
really are what they very decidedly
look like.
The fossils are spores, minute
one-celled bodies that serve instead
of seeds with lower plants that pro
duce no true seeds. These particu
lar spores have the form and mark
ings that characterize spores of the
ferns and their relatives.
But the formation they come
from, a boghead coal deposit in
Sweden, belongs to the Upper Cam
brian geologic age, 500 million years
or more ago, when there were sup
posed to be no land plant* living,
and none to come for many mil
lions of years. It appears to be a
projection of land-plant life into a
hitherto unsuspected past.
Age of Earth Checked
by Potassium "Clock"
New York. ? A radioactive potas
sium "clock," latest aid to scien
tists seeking to know the age of the
I earth, indicates that the world is
less than 3,000,000,000 years old, Or.
A. Keith Brewer of the United
States bureau of chemistry and soils
reports in<ttie magazine Science.
Radioactive potassium, K 40,
changes over long periods of time
into the common variety of calcium,
the metal that forms the basi* for
lime and limestone. Scientist* can
compute the age of the earth from
their knowledge of how much cal
cium is to be found today and a
knowledge of the rate at which ra
dioactive calcium decomposed.
Results by the potassium "clock"
method. Dr. Brewer reported, are
in close agreement with estimates
of the earth's age gained from an
other radioactive "clock," that of
radium, uranium and lead.
! Jupiter Due to Have
Big Disturbance Soon
Denver. ? A great disturbance on
the planet Jupiter to occur dur
ing the next few months was pre
dicted in a communication to the
American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science meeting here
from Dr. E. C. Slipher of Lowell
observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz. It will
take the form of a aerie* of intense
dark spots in the giant planet's
equator. A small faint marking
give* warning of the approaching
spots, judging from ? similar hap
pening in 1B20.
Keep Skin Clean to
Prevent Acne Is
Advice to the Young
Local Treatment Is Best,
Say the Dermatologists
Chicago ? For acne ? the ado
lescent's complaint ? local skin
cleanliness brings the best ^Je
suits.
That improperly functioning en
docrine glands are probably respon
sponsible tor acne, medical re
search examiners believe. But no
glandular substance found is enough
better than local treatment to jus
tify the expense and effort of its
administration.
Thirty-nine students at the Uni
versity of Iowa have recently been
treated for acne as a part of a scien
tific experiment. Dr. Grace E. Wil
liams, medical adviser to women,
and Dr. Ruben Nomland, profes
sor of dermatology at the univer
sity, report their observations on
these students in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
With evidence pointing to a defi
ciency of sex hormone in acne pa
tients, the Iowa physicians began
their study. They took twenty-eight
women students and eleven men,
the average being nineteen years.
Of these eleven had severe, twenty
moderately severe, and eight mild
acne.
Hormone Treatment Not Effective.
All thirty-nine students were asked
to give meticulous attention to de
tails in the care and treatment of
their skin. In addition, twenty of
them were treated with sex hor
mones, while the remaining nine
teen were also given injections but
the injections were merely sterile
water. The students did not know
which were getting hormone sub
stance and which were getting wa
ter.
Treatment went on for from four
to six months with 83 per cent of
those given the hormone substance
showing moderate to marked im
provement and 78 per cent of the
control group given sterile water
showing the same degree of im
provement.
The Iowa doctors concluded at
the end of the experiment that a
deficiency of the pituitary-like hor
mone is not an important factor in
causing acne and that the local
treatment is still the best bet for
controlling acne.
Here are the instructions for local
treatment of acne given to most of
the students:
Stop all picking and squeezing.
Discontinue the use of all cosmetic
creams. Wash with soap and wa
ter twice daily, keeping the skin
nongreasy almost to the point of
scaling. Eat a diet low in carbohy
drates. Eat no candy. Remove
blackheads by placing hot towels on
the face for five minutes, then ap
plying a thin coating of 3 per cent
resorcinol in cold cream to the face
and again applying hot towels for
five minutes. The blackhead* are
then s<]ueezed out with a comedon
remover, the face rinsed with cold
water and hamamelis water ap
plied. Apply a prescribed lotion two
or three times a day. Avoid iodized
salt. Shampoo the hair twice ?
week.
Female of Species Is
Tougher Than Male
Nottingham. England. ? Sex la
equally distributed among Britons
only in young people; between the
ages of fifteen and nineteen the
numbers of boys and girls is ap
proximately equal. At earlier ages
there are more males, later females
predominate.
This seesaw of the sexes, and
what it means biologically, was dis
cussed here before the meeting of
the British Association for the Ad
vancement of Science by Prof. F.
A E. Crew, noted biologist of the
University of Edinburgh.
In a word, the female of the spe
cies is noticeably tougher than the
male. Men, boys and boy babies
all tend to die off faster than their
sisters.
Huge Fossil Beast Is
Found in Colorado
Chicago.? Fossil remains of a
hitherto unknown species of extinct
mammal, big as a hippopotamus,
have been found in Colorado by an
expedition of the Field Museum of
Natural History. Bryan Patterson,
in charge of the expedition, report
ed the find to headquarters here.
The creature lived in the early
days of the age of mammals, about
45 million years ago, when the re
gion that is now the Rocky moun
tains was a low, flat plain.
Screen Star's Yacht Is
Now Science Laboratory
La Jolla, Calif.? The seagoing
yacht, Serena, formerly the prop
erty of Lewis Stone, noted actor,
has been purchased for the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography by Rob
ert Scripps, son and nephew of its
two founders and head of the
Scrippe-Howard Newspaper Alli
ance. The vessel will replace the
institution's former floating labora
tory, the yacht Scrippa, burned on
November 13. 19M.
Household ?
@ Qm/kmr
Cleaning Enameled Sinks. ?
Those stubborn dark streaks
which accumulate on enameled
sinks and bathtubs can be re
moved with kerosene.
When Peeling Small Onions. ?
Cover small onions with ho twa
ter and let stand for a minute or
two and the skins are easily re
moved.
? ? ?
When Washing Soft Polishing
Dusters. ? Rinse them in slightly
soapy water instead of clear wa
ter. This makes the dusters much
softer and they polish better.
? ? ?
Crab Apple Jelly. ? Take one
pint of water to every pound of
apples, and boil until soft. Then
put through jelly-bag. Allow one
pound of sugar and a tablespoon
ful of vinegar to every pint of
liquid, and boil for half an hour or
until it jellies.
? ? ?
Strain the Starch. ? Starch used
in laundering should be strained
to remove all lumps that might
blister when ironing.
? ? ?
Potatoes for Short Cakes. ? Hot.
boiled and mashed white potatoes
are good in making short cakes
and puddings. They not only save
flour, but require less shortening.
wnU hfiln.
I LEARNED ]
TO 'BEAT'
ACID
INDIGESTION
ONCE Uff WAS MISERABLE,
HO AFPtllltm
!umf af?P..4nmt
THf DOCTOR SAIB I
'ALKALIZE*)
BUT NOW" AT UK FIRST
SIGN OF ACHHNPI6?STK>W
i use muurs m
AND I FEEL UKE A Q
NEW PERSON ALMOST tag
IMMEDIATELY/ V
The J<atat wag to "aDnlizf it t?
carry your alkalatr with paa.
That's what thousands do bow
that genuine Phillip*' comes in
tiny, peppercnint flavored lihleti
? in a Oat tin for pocket <
Then you are always read
Use it this way. Take 2 f
tablets ? equal in "alb
effect to 2 teaspoonfnb of I .
Phillips' {ram tie bottle. At an
you lee) "gas," names, "over
crowding" bom hyper-acidity be
gin to ease. "A/ad headache i."
%ad breath," (rver-and stomach
are corrected at the source. This
it the quick way
to ok your ova
distress ? avoid
oflense to others.
The Miser's Wut
The miser is as much in want at
what he has as at what he has Dot.
? Syrus.
Watch Your
Kidneys/
of Harmful Body Wa
Doans Pills
THE OtLDirUL CMJ5
I love the race.
round world so rrvjek.
It $>ve> me tree#
tnd mount uns
And never stopping
d*y or ra$kt^_ _
I? itnes me i
riding through \
the jky.