Page Six
Illinois Valley News, Thursday, Dacember 25, 1941
Signs of Zodiac
Had Significance
In Middle Ages
INSTALLMENT TWELVE
THE STORY SO FAR: Bound for the
Ehibougamau (old country, six men lost
their live, on the Nottaway river. Red
Malone, Garrett Finlay, brother of one
ol the six, and Blaise, half breed guide,
arrive at Nottaway posing aa aurveyora.
Suspicion prevails that I-adore, rich fur
man, has made a sold strike and aim*
to keep prospectors out of the country
at any cost. En route to the Hudson’s
Bay post they visit Isadore In hl,
palatial home, meet his wife and Lise,
*
******
*
#
*
in his heart.
“It’s the way you
Mounties carry yourselves—some
thing so cool and masterful about
you. You can’t fool me, Mr Man.
I know you're police." Tears sud
denly blurred her eyes as she drew
a quick breath. “And I know from
the way father acted this morning
that he never expects to see you
again! Oh, Red,” she flung out des
perately, “I want to see you again!
I want you to come back, Neil!”
Red had the girl's trembling
hands in his. “I’m coming back,
Thistle!” he said, and his voice was
hoarse with feeling. “I’m coming
back straight to Matagami—to you.
kid." Then with a shrug of his heavy
shoulders he swallowed hard and the
dancing lights returned to his eyes.
“Now flash those white dazzlers of
yours in one of those smiles that
makes my heart go pitty-pat or I'll
rumple that gold stuff you call hair
right before your mother who’s
watching us through the window.”
A smile broke through the girl's
clouded face at the sally of the ir
resistible Red.
Over at the trade-house Finlay and
McNab were saying good-by.
“My men should reach the steel
with your report in thirteen days,
but I wish you’d change your mind,
Sergeant. Ask for immediate help
and wait here for it!”
Finlay's thoughts were with the
girl who waited for his message at
Waswanipi. His mouth curled at a
corner. In his eyes was the glint of
sun on young ice.
“McNab, the
Mounted Police never send for im
mediate help!"
“I know! I know!” McNab wagged
his head resignedly as he gripped
Finlay’s hard hand. “But I like you
two boys! It's a shame—a rotten—”
The trade-room door swung wide
and Blaise rushed in.
“Cano' cornin' from de eas'! Da
vid look in glass and say it come
from Isadore! I hid cano' and shut
up Flame!”
“Tell Red I want him, quick!’'
Malone burst into the room. “Put
your glasses on that canoe, Garry!”
Red cried. “Mine are packed! Some
thing's up!”
“Are they near enough to see us?”
“No, they're miles away, What
are the orders?"
Finlay took his binoculars from
his duffle bag. "If they stop here.
Red," he said, “we'll hole up in the
fur-loft and listen while McNab
draws them out. It may prove valu
able. They've decided we passed
them that night and are out to over
take us on the river.”
Red shrugged his wide shoulders.
“This is my daughter, Thistle.**
“Overtake you and Blaise and me.
just that, blood crazy. I've talked in strong water? Swell chance! But
to Montagnais who've drifted here we don't happen to be running!”
from Waswanipi. They say the In
"No. we don't happen to be run
dians are afraid of him. They think ning!”
he’s got some mysterious power—
Far to the east on the wind-rippled
talks with the spirits. But it's this surface of Matagami moved a black
medicine-man, Kinebik, that he speck. Finlay focused his glasses.
works through.”
It was a big Peterboro driven by
"Isadore's whiskey and Kinebik's an outboard motor, with a crew of
medicine-making have turned the four men.
young bucks against us,” said Fin-
"Do you recognize any of them?"
lay.
he asked McNab.
"By the way. McNab, why did
"Not yet But it's from Isadore's.
Isadore build such an elaborate out- He's got the only outboard motor in
fit'"'
this country.”
It must
"I can't account for it
The two returned to the trade
be sheer vanity.
He's certainly room while Finlay made his plans.
made big money in fur. But there "Whoever it is. McNab, get them in
must be something else, He's got here and pump them dry. We'll lie
a partner in Montreal. Blundell, who up there in the fur-loft and hear it
flics here every summer and, I'm all. Tell them we stopped for grub
sure, carries the liquor They say yesterday. on our way to Rupert,
he lives like a prince in the city. That may send them hunting us
What my people are wondering, is down river, And we’ll surprise Isa-
what Biondell doe« in Montreal be- dore when we show up at Waiwa-
»ides handle the fur."
nipi."
"And they can't find out?”
"Correct,
I'll handle those In-
dians.”
"No. it'» a mystery.”
"Make them talk even if you have
“How about placer gold”’ asked I
to feed them some of that scotch
Red
of yours, It will be legal for it's
That's what they've suspected
Flake gold and nuggets would be an order from the police."
easy to transport secretly in a plane.
The two men grinned. "Leave it
He may have struck some rich sand to me. Sergeant.”
bars in the upper Waswanipi. That
Red and Blaise appeared with
may be the answer. But Sergeant,” their Lee-Enflelds.
the trader rested his hand on Fin
"Don't think you'll need them,
lay's shoulder as they parted for
Red," said Finlay. "Now we'll hit
the night. "1 wish you'd have that
that ladder for the loft.”
police plane sent here and wait for
“I’ll have another look and let you
it. They fly to Isadore's place and
arrest him. I like you two boy». I know what I see." said McNab, as
don't want you to go back to Was the three men disappeared through
wanipi. With tbe Indians loose and the trap-door of the fur-loft.
As they lav on the floor of hand-
Isadore not knowing you're police
hewn. spruce planks near the open
it’s deliberate suicide "
ing. Finlay outlined his conversa-
Finlay took the trader's big hand.
The shadow of the pain which lanced tion with McNab
“Suppose Tete-31anche is in that
his heart crossed his face as he
thought of the boy in his grave be canoe”' queried Red
side the thundering Waswanipi. "As
"Our job is Isadore!” cautioned
yet I've nothing tangible on Isadore Finlay
"What we want today is
except this liquor business w ith the information. A fight, here, will spoil
Indians
Before I'm through I'll it all."
have something he'll swing for I'm
Red chuckled
“I wasn't serious,
To- chief. I was only worrying about
not sending for help. McNab
morrow we start back.”
Blaise We ll have to lie on him to
keep him from jumping through that
hatch."
Brassard's slit eyes glittered in
The following morning Blaise and the half-light as he grunted: “I can
the fretting airedale. circled by the wait
But dis big fallar wid red
hostile pest huskies, waited on the head, we have tough time to keep
beach beside the loaded Petcrboro. his mout' shut!"
Over nt the stockade gate Thistle's
Red shook Blaise's calloused paw
eyes clung to Malone's sober face
"Now we're square, you old wol-
"I've guessed what you are—you verine!"
two," she said, her chestnut brows
"Shut-up!”
snapped
Finlay.
meeting as she searched his candid
“Someone's coming'"
eyes tn an effort to read what lay
tlO Bl CO\Tl\l ID)
i
*
#
“I ll bet his liquor comes in by
air." said Red.
"Exactly. So he tried to wipe you
out—tried to stop a government sur
vey party? Now I wonder just why?
What's back of it all?”
“Of course, they must have de
cided that we were only prospectors
posing as surveyors.”
“Shooting prospectors is not so
dangerous as firing on government
men but it's still murder, ain't it?"
snorted McNab.
"True!” laughed Finlay trading
winks with Red behind the back of
the outraged McNab. The trader’s
hatred of Isadore would be useful.
He knew much about Waswanipi
which they would learn, for the eve-
“If you’ve
ning would be long,
heard he flies stuff in from some-
where south in the Province, possi
bly you’ve heard about the August
plane from the Bay,” suggested
Garry.
“From the Bay?" demurred Me-
Nab "Now what in thunder would
he be—Wait a minute!” The trader
scratched his jaw as his half-shut
eyes squinted at a gun-rack in a
seeming effort to recapture a vague
memory. “I've got it!” he explod-
ed
“North, at Rupert House, two
summers back, they were talking
about a strange schooner some trav
eling Crees had told of seeing off the
mouth of the Hurricanaw. The In
dians said a sea-plane was lying in
the Ice of an anchored ship. Later i
the plane headed south and disap
peared over the muskeg of the main
land. They've been trying to figure
that out, at Rupert, ever since."
Finlay glanced triumphantly at
Malone. Lise's story was corrobo-
rated. “Was it spring, summer or
fall they saw it?”
McNab nursed his chin. "Why,
let's see! I was at Rupert In early
September
It must have been in
the summer.”
Finlay’s face brightened with sat
isfaction. "McNab, that plane was
bound for Waswanipi.
Every Au
gust a plane from the North stops
there, then heads south.”
"Waswanipi?" blurted the puzzled
trader
“What's the reason for it?
What could it carry?”
Finlay leaned toward the Scotch
man chewing nervously on his pipe
stem “McNab, that's just what
Constable Malone and I would like
to know.”
After a clean-up and shave, Finlay
and Red joined the trader at his
house for supper. A shy woman
whose face wore lines etched by a
life of isolation and worry, und an
excited girl with an unruly red gold
bub. and the height and vitality of
her father, welcomed them.
"Mary, this is Mr. Finlay and
Mr Malone.” stud the trader “Gen
tlemen, my daughter, Thistle!”
The quick violet «’yes of the girl
swept Finlay's erect figure and
clean cut features with a passing
glance of approval
But it was to
Red's freckled face with its in
fectious grin which bared his regu
lar teeth that the girl’s dancing eyes
clung
As she laughed at Malone's
sallies, dimples dented her brown
checks
What a pair!" thought Garry.
"If I know the signs, she's fallen
for tlie devil already ”
Far into the night three men sat
in a cloud of smoke in the trade
room,
“Sergeant.” demurred McNab
“It's flat suicide for you to go back
there now. I tell you you haven't
n chance
But If you do hang on
until that plane shows up from the
Bay. how lire you going to learn if
don't
have
eyes
bnrnly wagged his
I know. Sergeant, 1
ik of the odds, man!
up there, now. with
ainst you!”
at Uie grave face of
Fort McLeod it was
icrs to one Mountie,
a
I
Isidore's stepdaughter. Answerins in
appeal from Lise, Finlay Is ambushed
but escapes. It develops that they are
Mounted Police officers. They continue
on to the Post and discuss the situation
with McNab, a trader.
McNab’s face lit with admiration.
“What do you know about this
Tete-BIanche — ever seen him?”
"I saw him once at the steel. He
looked uglier than a starved wolf.
Never saw such a face! They say
Isadore brought him here from the
West, up God's Lake way. He was
probably wanted there and had to
leave. Two years ago, after those
four men were reported drowned,
he went up river to Nottaway and
hung around making a lot of veiled
threats. He had everybody uneasy.
The Nottaway people know Isadore
is rich and think he has government
pull of some kind. They're afraid
of him."
“Nobody but the station agent has
dared open his mouth and he's been
threatened."
Finlay handed the letter he car
ried in his wallet to the trader. "Mc
Leod did more than talk. He wrote.”
McNab
returned
the
letter.
"That’s what they all think, up
there."
“Pretty state of affairs in a free
country!” snorted Red.
“About Tete-BIanche!” Finlay's
dark face was bitter. “Is he half
crazy? The night they trussed me up
I had a good look at his eyes. The
pupils dilated like those of an Eski
mo gone 'piblockto.' "
McNab squinted hard at the
speaker. “You know, I believe he is,
The peculiar figures constituting
THE PAPERS OF PRIVATE
the signs of the Zodiac are general
PURKEY
ly looked upon merely as a curiosity
today, but they once were credited Dear Ma—
Well I have done a lot of kidding
with strange powers.
and
squawking in my letters but I
During the Middle ages the 12
signs were supposed to influence gess that is all over now. After
human life. As a result each sign what them double crossing Japs did
was connected with a different part there is no longer no funny side to
do is
of the body in addition to being as this training and all I want to
boys
sociated with various months of the get a crack at them. All the
time
year. The Zodiac itself is an imag feel the same way. Up to the
stab-
inary band in the sky within which they heard about them Japs
lie the apparent paths of the sun, bing Uncle Sam in the back under a
flag of truce I gess they all felt the
moon and major planets.
same as me that the war was too far
Unlike the present calendar which
away to bother much and that this
will begin the new year 1942 on
army training was a pain in the
January 1, the Babylonian year be
neck. But it woke us all up like
gan in April. Because rams were
no bugle ever did.
sacrificed to the gods during this
month, it was associated with Aries,
I kind of felt that nobody wood
the ram.
ever tackle this country on account
of we got two big oceans to depend
on and all that and I gess I never
sweated in a manoover without say
ing to myself this is the bunk as
Hitler wood be crazy to get more
trouble on his hands. I never thought
that Japan would be even crazier. I
hated the hikes, I hated the drills
APRIL
OCTOBER
Aries, the Ram
Libra, the Balance
and inspeckshuns and I could not
bathe a new crop of corns without
burning up inside. But all of a sud
den I feel different. Even my bun
ions ¡eem patriotic now.
• • •
MAY
NOVEMBER
Taurus, the Bull
Scorpio, the Scorpion
DECEMBER
Gemini, the Twins
Sagittarius, the
<4 rcher
JULY
JANUARY
Cancer, the Crab
Capricornus, the Goat
It’s the same way all through my
outfit. Jeeps who have been squawk
ing eight hours a day look like they
become fighting men over night.
They know it is not all a lot of fool
ishness no more and any boy in
camp will attack a tank single hand
ed now if you just tell him there is
a Japanese doll inside.
As for me personally ma I got a
clear picture of what the country is
up against for the first time and I
wonder now that I did not get the
right slant long before this. I gess
it was just because I got snatched
so sudden from all the comforts of
civilun life that I didn’t see straight.
I was soar over giving up a box
spring mattress, a personal alarm
clock and the right to do what I
pleased. But Emperor Hotsy-Togo
or whatever you call him woke me
up like nobody’s business. I am
so soar now that I am sorry I
ever applauded Japanese tightrope
walkers.
This war has all of a sudden be
come a great exciting show, ma.
It don't seem just like a optical al
lusion no more. All the tanks don't
FEBRUARY
AVGUST
seem like they was just a few things
Aquarius, the
Leo. the Lion
W aterman
being demonstrated by a auto sales
man. My rifle witch has just seemed
something I wood like to have car
ried for me by a caddy has all of a
sudden become my BUDDY! It’s
real and human. And my uniform
even when it is wet and ivrinkled
now looks like the grandest uniform
anybody could ever climb into. What
SEPTEMBER
MARCH
has come over me I don't know for
Virgo. th. Virgin
Pisces. the Fishes
sure but I credit the Mikadoo with
May (Taurus, the built brought an assist.
the approach of summer with the
sun being conceived as a bull who
I gess you will have to forget
plowed his way among the stars. about me being home for Christmas.
June (Gemini, the twins) was rep But 1 know what kind of a mother
resented by Castor and Pollux, twin you are and I gess you feel just
sons of Zeus and Leda.
like I do about what has happened.
The backward motion of the crab I have done a lot of wise cracking
was associated with July (Cancer, about being leased or lent but I
the crab), the month when the sun don't care where they use me now,
began to retreat toward the hori so long as it is where I can take a
zon Culmination of the sun's heat sock at the world's worst enemies
came in August. This was repre of today, the double-talk nations
sented by Leo, the lion—the ancient witch jab a knife in your kidney
symbol of fire.
while asking what you want for
September 'Virgo, the virgin) Christmas.
celebrated Ishtar's descent into
Hades in search of her husband.
Well, I must close now. Do not
The ancients recognized the balance worry. Everything will come out
of day and night which occurred all right with the old Stars and
during October (Libra, the balance). Stripes on top.
Scorpio, the scorpion, symbolized
Your loving son.
the darkness of November following
Oscar.
the decline of the sun after the
P. S.—I serpose pop is trying to
autumn equinox.
December was get into the army again now. Tell
represented by the figure of the him to forget it and stay home and
archer. Sagittarius, god of war. look out for you as I will do enough
January (Capricornus, the goat) fighting for all three of us.
symbolized the nurse which cared
for the young gods of the sun.
THOUGHT ON FOOD
Even the weather was recognized It is the sad. unlucky fate
by the men who drew up the signs
Of some to have a diet;
of the Zodiac February (Aquarius, Each time they hear a friend's lost
the waterman) was associated with
weight
the heavy rains which periodically
They ask him how. and try it.
flooded the Nile river.
March
(Pisces, the fishes) marked the And yet. however fond and fair
month when labor was resumed irf
Their hopes at the beginning.
the fields.
They almost always find that they’re
It is believed that Homo Signor-
More thinned against than thin
um, or Man of Signs, was originat
ning
ed about 1300 A. D.
The actual
—Richard Armour.
signs of the Zodiac, however, were
known for many centuries before.
'Remember back before social
Famous Scotch Bun
A famous Scotch bun made entire
ly of egg and chopped fruit enclosed
in a crust appears bountifully dur
ing New Year week.
security when people thought the
way to be sure of a good living in
their old age was to raise a lot of
grateful sons and daughters?" asks
Merrill Chilcote.
DESERT SONG
Two-Week Celebration
In Cunningham.
Fourteen days are needed in Ja
Said Nazis, running.
pan to celebrate the coming of the
There s less of ham.
new year.
During the festival
And more of cunning.
streets are made lively by stilt-
—Richard Armour.
walking. top-spinning, jumping, ball
• • •
playing and rope-pulling.
The time to anticipate a war
While the youths are enjoying the
these days is when the peace
outdoor sports, the older people
conversations reach a height.
write New Year's poems or play
• • •
games. After two weeks of revelry
"Up to Pearl Harbor,” said Elmer
the festival is brought to a close Twitchell today. "I never thought
by burning the kado-matsu and oth Orson Welles' famous broadcast
er decorations put up for the cele would be topped in my lifetime."
bration.
Pattern ilia.
LJERE'S a lovely wall hanging
■*■
that's fascinating to em-
broider in soft colors,
All the
stitches are very easy.
Pattern 7115 contains a transfer pattern
of a picture 15 by 20 inches: illustrations
of stitches: materials needed, color chart.
To obtain this pattern send your order to:
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Dept.
117 Minna St.
San Francisco, Calif.
Enclose 15 cents in coins tor Pat
tern No..................
Name .......................................................
Address ..............................................
COLDS
quick fIf 44^1
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COUGH DROPS
Self Reason
People are generally better per
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Help Them Cleanse the Blood
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Your kidneys are constantly filtering
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52—41
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