BLACK FEATHER
By HAROLD TITUS
C Harold Titus
WNU Barrie*
SYNOPSIS
Rodney Shaw, Independent trader, ar
rives In Michillmackinac In 1818, de
termined to fight the trade monopoly es
tablished by the John Jacob As tor com
pany In the Northwest territory. He Is
met by Conrad Rich, an elderly clerk,
Ramsay Crooks. Astor’s dominant figure,
and Annette Leclere, local beauty and
Inspiration to all the traders, especially
to Burke Rickman, a ruthless trader who
Is the Instrument of destruction to trad
ers refusing to amalgamate with the
Astor company. Roussel, the town bully,
wearing the black feather, symbol of in
vincibility, knocks down Shaw’s head
oarsman, Baslle, and Shaw in return
throws Roussel into the water. Ramsay
Crooks presents the symbolic black
feather to Shaw. Later, at a conference,
Shaw scorns Astor’s proposal virtually to
surrender his independence, announces
his readiness to fight the amalgamation,
and prepares to depart the following day.
At a ball that evening Shaw recognizes
Burlfe Rickman as the Astor agent who
had previously robbed him of his partner
and nls trade, and as a dangerous rival
for Annette, with whom he Is Infatu
ated. There is an exchange of bitter
words. Annette is chosen queen of the
dance, and after flirting with both Rick
man and Shaw, chooses Shaw as king
lor the following evening. Baslle warns
Shaw to hasten his departure ahd tells
him an old man awaits him at his tent.
Shaw finds Leslie, an old free-trader.
CHAPTER II—Continued
“Ay! Who’s not heard of them?
Far up the Mississippi; good hunt
ers and in rich country. But others
are there.”
“Others was! Gone, now. Nor’
westers 're gone by law. Th’ lone
independent who opposed ’em *s
gone . . . Sioux driven Wm out.
Rich country. Waitin’ to be took.
By me. With you. I got. . . trade
goods. You got th’ feet ’nd wind.
“Look!” he said. "Astor figures
to step in. He’s sendin’ Hickman.
We’ll fix a su’prise for’m!”
He fumbled in the buckskin pouch
which hung from his girdle.
“Here!” he said and drew out a
map, crudely etched on parch
ment, and pointed to the winding
course of the Mississippi and to a
lake indicated well towards its head
waters. “Yon!” he said. “Rich
country waitin’ ... to be took!”
Again he fumbled in the pouch
and this time produced an Indian
ceremonial stone of green, shaped
like a butterfly, polished to, aatiny
smoothness.
“More powerful nor Astor! More
valuable nor a ton o’ trade goods!
Like a key to a lock . . . Key to
Pillager lock! Give to me by
Standin’ Cloud. Pillager chief.
Saved his hide three year back.
Brothers! Me ’nd Standin’ Cloud
♦ brothers! He passed th’ stone 'nd
tells me to send it, if ever I need
... a brother! No use, then. Two
forts a’ready amongst ’em. Trade
won’t stand another split. But now
. . . it’s different.”
He choked and gasped then and
after a struggle gave up and once
more reverted to signs. Rodney had
strength and agility, he indicated.
Rodney could direct the march and
pass the credits and see that they
were collected.
“Just two of us . . . old free
traders left,” he whispered. “Just
two as won’t belly-crawl to . . .
Astor. Do we deal?” .
Rodney, stirred though he was at
the prospect, demurred. It was not
fair, he declared.
“Gabble!” the other cut In. “I
got goods . . . Goods ’re no use
lessen strong legs ’nd hearts go ...
with ’em. You got legs 'nd heart
... Do we deal? . . . Don’t we7"
he asked again and in his eyes was
pleading which warmed Shaw with
something else than the prospect of
being able to make good bis boast
and satisfy his impulse to stand
against the great company.
' They talked, then, until dawn sil
vered the east Then Rodney half
led, half carried the old trader to
the camp he had made at the east
ern end of the island and left him
with word that he would return and
give his answer.
•‘They’ll watch ye!” Leslie mut
tered as Rodney lowered him to his
couch of buffalo robes. “They’ll
watch ye like a lynx watches prey
. . I Come late ... I don’t sleep
nights .-. .”
Rodney slept until the sun was
full an hour high. He had gone to
sleep with his heart still fast at
thought of the opportunity to estab
lish himself again.
And he awakened with his heart
going fit to choke him; gasping to
himself a name. Over and over
he repeated it, sitting there in his
robes, blinking at the new day.
“Annette!” he said. “Annette...
Annette . . . Annette Lederel”
Basile cooked breakfast for him
and Shaw ate alone before his tent,
the old man eyeing him with ill con
cealed curiosity. Finally, he could
no longer restrain himself and put
the question in French:
"Do we put out with the old one?”
Shaw smiled. “Does cue pass by
rare opportunity? Does one, Basile?
Of course we put out But not too
hastily. Leslie is a sick man, Bas
ile,”—soberly. “Perhaps even with
a heavier sickness than one compre
hends. He is unfit for a march. To
day, we must make gestures at oc
cupying ourselves. Tonight during
the dance at which I’m to be king,”
—with a reminiscent grin—"I slip
go to him. In the mean
. >.. .
The sound oi shod wheels rolling
on gravel checked him and he
looked up to see Annette in her
gig, careening down the narrow
street But she could not help giv
ing him notice as he leaped out
ward, flinging up an arm to make
the leading black shy wide, grasp
ing the Ally’s rein.
“Impudence!” she cried, feigning
pique. “You will have me upset
Rodney Shaw. Stay back!”
“I stay here. I defy you!”—as
he vaulted the wheel to the seat be
side her.
“But you were to be gone from
Mackinac! All have heard the brave
things you said to Mr. Astor. Did
you not mean them? That you’d be
gone in defiance to him?”
“Not until those ripe lips hunger
as mine hunger!”
“Nonsense, sire!”
So he drove with her that morn
ing and strolled with her that after
noon. He wooed roughly, madly un
til, late in the afternoon, Annette
fled his avid arms and hungry lips
and sought sanctuary from his de
termination in the house of the old
aunt which was her home.
He went back to his tent, walking
lightly, head high. Men turned to
watch him because, between sun
and sun, he had become famous. He
had defied Astor and he had flaunted
his trespassing in romance upon
grounds which, that spring, at least,
had been admittedly Burke Rick
"We’ll Sting As tor and Claw Back
at Rickman."
man's. Others wondered what man
ifestation Rickman’s resentment
might take. But Burke Rickman
was not to manifest his resentment.
Not openly. Donald Maclver, the
shrewd Scot and loyal servant, had
seen to that.
He and Rickman were together
when Annette drove past that bright
forenoon with the pugnacious young
Shaw on the gig seat beside her,
and Maclver had seen the chill of
threat show in the other’s eye and
the heat of jealousy creep into his
cheek.
“Don’t, lad," Maclver muttered
while his eyes twinkled. “’Tis a
.passing thing. No challenge to ye, is
yon upstart. Let him go on. Let
him spend, mayhap, hours wi’ th’
lass. He’ll gi’ us what we need
quicker so thun by any ither means.
He’s not Meester Astor’s mon. ’Nd
he must be so if we discharge our
juty. He made his boasts last nicht
thut he’d trade again, ’nd in th’
territory. It’s our obligation to de
tairmine where, to follow, to crush
th’ juice o’ resistance from his very
bones, if need be. Would he gi’ us
a hint as to where he’ll trade? No!
But will a lad tell th’ innermost se
crets of his heart to a lass? Ayl
From her we’ll learn."
Rodney gestured as king at the
dance in the company headquarters
that night and told himself that he
was only waiting for the hour to
grow late before slipping away to
Join Leslie.
But when the hour grew late he
put it off. Multiple joy and achieve
ment were there. Annette, first of
all, was there, challenging and tan
talizing him. And Rickman was
there, his resentment badly under
control.
But depart at last he did, and
found Leslie waiting.
“Well? Do ye take my offer?” the
old trader asked.
"I dp, pardner.”
“Goodl We’ll sting ’im, th’ two
on us! We'll sting Astor and claw
back at Rlckinan for what he done
to ye . . . Look, pardner!”
He led Shaw to the stores of trade
goods, snug under their oilcloths,
and by the light of a blazing torch
Rodney beheld the valuables piled
neatly there.
"Ought to be spry," Leslie whis
pered. “My men tell on hearin’
Rickman puts out afore long. We'd
best be weeks . ahead on him."
"Can you travel?” Shaw asked
"Few day* . . . rest’ll fix . . .
me.”
So, for a week, while he waited
for Leslie to gain strength, Rodney
Shaw reveled in the pretense that
feminine charms held him at Mack
inac. ■ Despite the truth that court
ship served as a blind to confound
the watch he knew must be kept on
him, he was enmeshed, as many
another had been caught in this half
decade since Annette Leclere, done
with Montreal schooling, had come
back to live with her old aunt
A forbidding woman, this aunt a
grim, forbidding woman, sprung
from metif stock, a fixture in the
place, midwife and seeress, speak
ing a jargon of Ojibway and patios
and seemed to take pride that so
few understood her well.
Shaw disturbed the old lady and
she stormed at Annette for having
him about, but it did no good. The
girl laughed at her.
Then, from pan to fire, Rickman
w*a s banished, tossed aside,
snubbed, it would seem, and now
it was Shaw who came hammering
on doors before dew was dry.
CHAPTER III
Rodney Shaw changed his ap
proach to Annette, scarce knowing
that he changed. The light of
amused combat left his eyes for
minutes; his voice pleaded softly.
He lost poise, lost years; he would
boast to her of what he had done,
of what he could do; he would strut
before her . . . And he would plead,
almost seriously, as others had
pleaded. Almost seriously . . . not
quite, and not for long.
And at those times, the girl was
not so ready of tongue. She listened,
denying his half-reverent pleas by
her silence—but still she listened.
Today, he was in such a mood,
stupefied by her intoxicating beau
ty, pleading with her to go inland
with him. And she put him off and
when he wheedled for reasons she
listed his shortcomings. She was in
play, but he failed to realize her
words were not full-meant.
"Presumptuous, reckless, auda
cious, foolhardy—”
“To desire one so lovely?”
“To risk further the ill will of the
company!”
“Ho! ” he laughed. “Why should I
fear?”
“But they have stripped you of
your trade! They will crush you, if
you persist!”
“They will try, yes. But they do
not guess the card hidden in my
sleeve!”
“Card? You possess some secret?
Or is this only an idle boast?”
He had been toying with that
same black ostrich plume which had
reposed these days in his waistcoat
pocket and now he waved the sym
bol of superior strength in a dis
missing gesture.
“Listen!” he said, halting in their
walk and leaning close. "They think
me a pauper, and that is well. But
here under their nose I’ve acquired
.a share in goods beyond my wild
est dream! And with these goods I
march to the richest ground un
tended, a ground they plan to
work!”
They were on a forest trail on
the heights of the island. Dappled
sulinght fell upon them, scents of
balsam and cedar were in their
nostrils.
“Ah, Annette!” he breathed, tak
ing her hands. “I never dreamed,
in the years I’ve lived, that such a
desirable person as you pressed
foot to earth! ...” She was in
his arms, then, yielding gently and
he felt her quick and irregular
breathing against him.
“Dear Annette! Sweet Annette!
And I’ve wasted years thinking of
trade, when it’s love I want! I’ve
wasted my life, holding freedom as
a goal, when it’s enslavement in
your heart I need!”
"Enslavement, Rodney?”
"Enslavement! ” He repeated the
word aloud and looked away from
her and at his manner alarm swept
into the girl’s face. “Of course, it’s
what I want!” he cried, laughing
hungrily to cover his confusion.
“You’re sweet! You set me on fire!"
he muttered, grasping her so rough
ly that, half frightened, she sought
escape.
They returned to the village,
Shaw’s tongue losing its ease. He
tried to pass off that unguarded
moment, those impetuous words,
and conduct himself as he had at
other times, but fright persisted. Let
lips seduce him from that objective
which was the breath of his life?
Ah, no! He’d gone far enough along
this course.
At the gate he told her he could
not be with her this night He had
affairs to attend, he said. He was
brusque and absorbed, having been
frightened by the strength of his
own emotions. He left her, impelled
to run in flight and she stared after
him with the mingled feelings of
one who has been rebuffed.
So that night the girl sat alone,
hurt and outraged. And Burke Rick
man, prowling the places of merri
ment in his role of spy, saw neither
her nor Shaw. But Shaw, he dis
covered, was at his tent. Annette,
then, might be alone and the time
he had awaited, and the mood
which had been so long in shaping,
might have arrived. So he rapped
on the aunt’s door and found her
there, with signs of tears on her
cheeks and high temper in her eyes.
Sly, this Rickman, in playing on
tempers. He questioned adroitly and
probed and prodded to no avail. And
he kept on, belittling Rodney, scoff
ing at him, predicting his dire fu
ture until Annette went white again
with provoked loyalty and boasted
of Shaw's strength and courage and
possessions and plans; her thoughts
and impulses were all ajumble, hat
ing and loving Rodney in the same
moment, defending him while she
longed to hurt him.
She achieved both. Her boasts
were the things Rickman had wait
ed to hear; that was all he needed,
to know Shaw had a partnership
and planned to march to a rich
ground unclaimed by traders.
So, at midnight, when Rodney
slipped along the trail to Leslie’s
tent another followed furtively and
when Shaw heard from his part
ner’s lips the thing he had suspected
and feared, this other listened,
prone behind a boulder . . .
Leslie no longer deceived him
self. The hand of death lay heavily
upon him. Giles, his clerk, was
holding a cup of water to his lips
as Rodney appeared. The old man
smiled weakly.
“I've held ye . . . back . . . De
layed ye . . . thinkin’ I . . . might
git . . . strength ... No good,’’ he
whispered. “Jist one thing ... I
want. It’s to . . see th’ Pillager
trade ... out of yon hands. You
.go,” he said and weak though he
was, the order came imperiously.
Rodney knelt beside him in the
entry to the tent. He could not hear
the light scruff-scruff of a body
worming closer, could not know that
alien ears heard those rasping
words, spoken at the cost of such
torture.
“You take th’ . . . goods. Men
I . . . .don’t follow they’re . . .
youm . . .” he added and his suf
fering eyes gleamed with stalwart
friendliness. “No strings ... to
’em . . . Yourn,” he said and looked
at Giles as if to adjure the man to
bear witness to the agreement.
He fumbled, then, in his pouch
and drew out the map and butterfly
ornament.
“Take ’em,” he gasped. "Use ’em
. . . Standin’ Cloud ... ’ll treat
ye like . . . brother."
“I’ll go,”'Rodney said. “I’ll give
them such opposition they’ve never
dreamed of! I’ll be gone before the
sun shows,” he promised.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Pumpkin, Squash Used to Produce Many
Fruits; Over 100 Cross Pollinations
The production of about a dozen
fruits from more than a hundred
cross pollinations between different
varieties of pumpkins and squash
made at the state experiment sta
tion at Geneva, N. Y., says the Sci
entific American, has thrown con
siderable light on the botanical rela
tionships of-these groups and, inci
dentally, has given rise to several
new forms that seem to be either
immune or highly resistant to
squash mosaic. Many unsuccessful
attempts to hybridize these two
vegetables have been made during
the last century, hence the success
attending the station trials is being
watched with considerable interest
because of the many possibilities it
holds for developing new and better
varieties.
Cucurbits is the technical.name
for pumpkins and squashes of which
three annual species are more or
less commonly grown, explains Pro
fessor Van Eseltine, station bota
nist These species are known as
maxima which includes the winter
squashes, such as Hubbard, Boston
marrow and related types; moscha
ta, also known as the grammas and
best illustrated by the Japanese pie,
winter crookneck, and the like, and
pepo, or the pumpkins, the fall
squashes and the summer squashes
or scallops, vegetable marrows, and
similar forms.
In each case the forms within
these groups crossed readily, but
the groups would not cross with
each other. This seemed to estab
lish the specific identity of the three
^oups. In 1930 an attempt was
again made to cross these different
groups in a study of the origin of the
annual cucurbitas. About a dozen
fruits have been obtained from
these crosses and while they present
many interesting possibilities, in
cluding evidence of marked resist
ance to squash mosaic, much fur
ther study will be required before
any very definite conclusions can
come from these investigations.
Ask itfeO
Another ■
A Quiz With
Answers Offering
Information on
Various Subjects
1. What causes leaves to change
color in autumn?
2. Who said, “It, is much easier
to be critical than to be correct”?
3. Which are the lightest birds
in proportion to their size that fly?
4. There were how many sign
ers of the Declaration of In
dependence?
5. What is the total number of
war medals that have been given
to sqldiers? Which medal was
most widely distributed?
6. Are car colors restricted in
Japan?
Answers
1. Gradual formation of cells at
the stem of the leaf Anally shuts
oil the supply of chlorophyl, or
green coloring matter, and starts
the formation of the gaudy
autumnal colors.
2. The expression was used by
Benjamin Disraeli in the house of
commons on January 24, 1860.
3. The birds with great powers
of flight, such as the sea-gull, are
the lightest birds to fly. The com
mon gull weighs only a quarter of
a pound. Its bones are hollow and
filled with air.
4. There were 56 signers of the
Declaration of Independence.
5. The total of medals on record
at the War department is 1,543,
721. The Victory medal, issued
after the World war, is the most
widely distributed.
6. In Japan only imperial house
hold cars may be painted maroon,
and no cars except hearses may
be painted yellow, which to the
natives signifies mourning.
SWil
we’ve
word In all
Noble Cause
“Father,” said Willie,
give me a penny
who is crying
“Certainly,” replied
"What is he crying for?”
“He’s crying:
penny each,’ ” said
got the penny.
In Line of Du
Jones had
mand his wife.
“I think,” he
“that you fib a
“Well
I spoke
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