Adventure Magazine Cover, March 20, 1925 — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

The Bush Lopers men will talk tome. A Huron man told me something tonight in trade for a drink out of my dish. They are smoking war tobacco again. They plan to kill the French to- night. They say the French will all be drunk. They plan to let loose the prison- ers and kill all the French.” “You have told M’sieur Durantaye?”’ sharply queried Carcajou. Dubeau shrugged his broad shoulders and thickly reminded the Wolverene: “T am only half French. The Huron half fills me to my toes tonight. But I will not turn against the French.” He returned to the drinking, apparently no longer concerned by this new danger to the French. >| CARCAJOU ran swiftly to the fort, 7 where the officers were drinking, and demanded admission. Durantaye, hearing him talking to the sentinel, called out for him to be admitted. He hurriedly gave warning. Durantaye lost no time in questioning him. He gave orders for the soldiers to stand under arms and to double the guard around the two bands of prison- ers. To Carcajou he directed: “Get together all the coureurs de bois who can stand and surround the Hurons, but neither say nor do anything.” On returning to his boisterous friends Carcajou had Du Lhut’s company as far as the first camp of soldiers. He halted when he observed several men trying to arouse two of their mates. Du Lhut angrily demanded: “Drunk so early? Douse them in the river.” “But, m’sieur, we are afraid. They drank only once. We can’t wake them up. They drank a long time ago when the rum was first passed. They’ve slept ever since. We’re afraid,” said a soldier. Carcajou dropped on his knees and after a brief examination told Du Lhut— “These two men are dead, m’sieur.”’ And he remembered Papa La Blanche’s dream of a black ax in the moon and crossed himself. “Tmpossible!” sharply said Du Lhut; and he proceeded to make an examination. Soon he was erect and muttering, “Pardieu!/ But they are dead! How could a drink of rum kill them? You other men are alive. You’ve drunk more than these two dead men. You all drank the same rum?” I2I “We brought ours from a keg at the landing when the guard began giving it out,” replied a soldier. ‘‘We found them here with their gourds filled. We didn’t understand how they could get drink ahead of us when we were helped from the first keg. We said that, and they laughed at us. Then they seemed to be asleep. We let them alone. We let their rum alone, being honest comrades.’’ And he pointed to two gourds, half filled with liquor, and propped against a log. Carcajou picked up a gourd, smelled of it and then took a mouthful. He retained it for a moment and then spat it out and with a grimace, exclaimed— “This drink doesn’t m’sieur!”’ He tried the other gourd and repeated his show of disgust. Then he sampled one of the other gourds and assured them: “‘That is honest, These two men have been poisoned, m’sieur,’ “nat can't be,” protested Du Lhut. “That would mean the English brought poisoned rum to trade to the Indians. ‘They never did that. They came to trade.”’ “Much rum was loose for the taking up at the point,” Carcajou reminded him. “But let some one bring Old Papa La Blanche. He follows me like my shadow. He will be near.” “He is here,” croaked La Blanche, ad- vancing into the firelight. ‘His old ears have heard.” He picked up one of the suspected gourds and smelled and tasted of it, made a face and declared: “It is the May-apple.* They grow here at the Narrows. The fruits when pre- served are good eating, but the roots are poison. Some one has steeped the roots of the May apple and put it in some of the rum. I saw a Saulteur man die of it. There’s bad business going on here. But I never knew the poison to work so fast. I would say these dead men got the poisoned rum at the point and brought some with them. That would give it time to kill. Last night, m’sieur, I dreamed of a black ax in the moon.” “Keep that dream to yourself, old man,” commanded Du Lhut. “And all of you understand this: The savages must think they died from overdrinking. Let them be buried in the morning.” *Also called mandrake. Podophyllum peltatum. taste honest, CORnnICLaOo (©