Adventure, November 1915 — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

a 5a, ‘ime THE POSTS OF P LLAGE CA TWO-PART STORY-PART1 6y-SAMUEL ALEXANDER WHITE Author of “Proof,” “The Azoic Law,” etc. CHAPTER I THE DREAM AND THE CHALLENGE S THE leading canoe of the fur brigade swerved shoreward at the foot of Mushalagan Lake, Masita Dubawni stood erect, steadying herself with a hand upon the shoulder of the squat, heavy-framed, sun- smoked man who shared her seat amid- ships, and pointed toward a cleft in the green spruce growth above the rocky-waterline. “Father, is that the Manikuagan Portage we take?” ‘she asked. “Yes, Masita,’”’ he answered, “and though it is a long traverse from the heart of the Labrador to civilization, we are half-way to Quebec.” Quebec! How her heart leaped at the name! Quebec meant civilization. Like some potent magic the glamour of the South enfolded her again, and she could almost fancy herself once more there. For the years of her sojourn at the Quebec schools, though involving separation from her pa- rents, had been very precious to her. And though she loved the North with the birth- land love, there were times in the round of its seasons when she longed for respite, for change, when an unrest rose within her that she found hard to still. Perhaps it was her awakening woman- hood. Perhaps it was the natural rebellion of her independent being against anything ap- proaching monotony. - Perhaps it was the nomadic spirit of the wild working in her, prompting her to seek and roam. She did not know. But for a long time she had seen nothing else but the immensity of the North, its power, its ruthlessness, and the gentler side of her nature cried out for communion. Dubawni Post, her home, was nothing but a log fort in the midst of a gigantic wilderness. About it, league upon league, stretched lone, timbered rivers and lakes and lone, timberless hills and plateaus and, encircling all, the silent, pulseless Barren «Grounds of the Labrador. For eight months of the year the tyranny of Winter ruled the land. For four months only did the tyrant’s grip loosen, and into those four months were crowded three sea- sons: Spring, Summer and Autumn. In the Spring the lesser rivers broke and dis- gorged their floods into the great main chan- nel of the Kaniapiskau River. Then she saw the Kaniapiskau rise in its might, a fet- tered Titan struggling in its wrath, till with a colossal convulsion it broke its shackles and hurled its ice-dams north into Ungava Bay. Io0o Eomichoo 6S im