&&000 Canadian schoolbooks                                                                                   CA608.TXT
sample for GRADE 8 in books used during the 1960s
samples by dph in Toronto 9-10 Dec 2003
1st edit by dph 19 dec 2003 
Re-edited 21 June 2005

&&111

"He's purely ailing. He isn't like the rest of us. He isn't like nobody. Seems like he drinks air
instead of water, and feeds on what the wild creatures feed on, instead of bacon."
"He sees things aren't so, don't he? =Spanish and such."
"He do, but dogged if they aren't times he'll make you think he do see them."
"you reckon =Lem will leave me come see him?"
"I'd not risk it yet. I'll get word to you one day when maybe =Lem's gone off, see?"
"I sure crave to see =Fodderrwing."
"You'll see him. Now whereabouts you want to go, hunting that fawn? it's getting right thick up
this trail."
Suddenly =Jody was unwilling to have =Mill-wheel with him. If the fawn was dead, or could not
be found, he could not have his disappointment seen. And if the fawn was there, the meeting
would be so lovely and so secret that he could not endure to share it.
He said, "It's not for now, but it's powerful thick for a horse. I can make it on foot "
"But I'm dare some to leave you, boy. Suppose you was to get lost or snake-bit, too?"
"I'll take care.  It'll take me likely a long time to find the fawn, if he's wandered. Leave me off
right here."
"All right, but you go mighty easy now, poking in them palmettos. This is a rattlesnake heaven in
these parts. You know north here, and east?"
"There, and there. That fir tall pine makes a bearing." "That's right. Now do things go wrong
again, you or =Buck, one, ride back for me. So long."
"So long, =Mill-wheel. I'm sure obliged."
He waved after him. He waited for the sound of the hoofs to end, then cut to the right. The scrub
was still. Only his own crackling of twigs sounded across the silence. He was eager almost past
caution, but he broke a bough and pushed it ahead of him where the growth was thick and the
ground invisible. 


He was within five or six feet of the prey. Then there was a sudden rush of wind above his
head-harsh, rigid wings brushed confusingly across his face-and the torn body of the fish,
snatched from under his very nose, was swept into the air. With a squeal of disappointed fury he
made a lunge for it, but he was too late. The female osprey, fresher than her mate, had again
intervened in time to save the prize, and lifted it beyond his reach.
Now, under ordinary circumstances the bear had no grudge against the ospreys. But this was an
insult not to be borne. The fish had been left upon the beach, and he regarded it as his. To be
robbed of his prey was the most intolerable of affronts; and there is no beast more tenacious than
the bear in avenging any wrong to his personal dignity.
The osprey, weighed down by her heavy burden, flew low and slowly toward the nest. Her mate
flew just above her, encouraging her with soft cries; while the bear galloped lumberingly
beneath, his heart swelling with vindictive wrath. Hasten as he would, however, lie soon lost
sight of them; but he knew very well where the nest was, having seen it many times in his
prowlings, so he kept on, chewing his plans for vengeance. He would teach the presumptuous
birds that his overlordship of the forest was not lightly to be flouted.
After four or five minutes of clambering over a tangle of rocks and windfalls he arrived at the
foot of the naked pine trunk which bore the huge nest in its crotch, nearly fifty feet above the
ground. He paused for a moment to glare up at it with wicked eyes. The two ospreys, apparently
heedless of his presence and its dreadful menace, were busily tearing fragments of the fish into
fine shreds and feeding their hungry nestlings  his fish, as the bear told himself, raging at their
insolent self-confidence. He would claw the nest to pieces from beneath, and devour both the
nestlings themselves and the prey which had been snatched from him. He reared himself against
the trunk and began to climb-laboriously, because the trunk was too huge for a good grip, and
with a loud rattling of claws upon the dry, resonant wood.
At that first ominous sound the ospreys took alarm. 



 There goes =Mafatu. He killed the wild boar single-handed! And =TavanaNui, my father, will be
filled with pride."
The prospect of returning home set another train of thought in motion. "I must find a tree, a
=tamanu, for my canoe," the boy said aloud. "I will burn it out, then make an adze  of basalt to
finish it. I'll plait a sail of pandanus. And oh, it will be a wonderful canoe!"
At that moment his eye fell upon a mango tree loaded with juicy fruit, and he plucked a fruit and
sank his teeth into the rosy pulp. For a few seconds while he ate his fill and the juices ran down
over his chin, he forgot all about his canoe; forgot that he needed shelter, food, fire, and
weapons. Then, his hunger satisfied, his mind ran ahead again to the happy day when he would
set sail for =Hikueru, with all his demons put to rout and the bright flame of courage burning in
his heart. Never again would he be called =Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid. He stood there taut
with purpose, high above the demon sea.
=Maui, God of the Fishermen, hear me!" he pleaded. "I shall return home one day, I swear it. My
father, =TavanaNui, will be filled with pride at my homecoming. It is a vow that I take now, O
=Maui. I have spoken."
The wind from the sea swept up around him, its voice warm and soft and reassuring in his ear.
=Maui, God of the Fishermen, had heard and answered.
=Mafatu decided that before he retraced his steps to his own beach he would explore the opposite
side of the island. The trail dropped from the plateau in a series of swift turns and spirals. The
boy clambered down, slipping and sliding, catching hold of roots and vines to keep from falling.
Far below, a cool dark stream wound its way through a sheltered valley. Perhaps in that valley he
would find some people.
At the base of the ancient crater, long ridges of lava descended to the valley. Of a sudden
=Mafatu remembered an old tale out of his childhood: he had been told how the youths of
=Tahiti slid down the lava slide on sleds of giant leaves! The thought had scarcely



forge tonight, and then I asked permission to come and bring you home to us. I am so sorry,
Captain, that you are having such a hard time."
She looked at him compassionately with her heavy eyes, and she noticed that the man was afraid.
"Either he has stolen something or else he has escaped from jail," she thought, and added quickly,
"You may be sure, Captain, that you will be allowed to leave us just as freely as you came. Only
please stay with us over =ChristmasEve."
She said this in such a friendly manner that the rat-trap peddler must have felt confidence in her. ,
"It would never have occurred to me that you would bother with me yourself, miss," he said. "I
will come."
He accepted the fur coat which the valet handed him with a deep bow, threw it over his rags, and
followed the young lady out to the carriage, without granting the astonished blacksmiths so much
as a glance.
But while he was riding up to the manor house he had evil forebodings.
"Why the devil did I take that fellow's money?" he thought. "Now I am sitting in the trap and will
never get out of it."
The next day was =ChristmasEve, and when the ironmaster came into the dining room for
breakfast he probably thought with satisfaction of his old regimental comrade whom he had run
across so unexpectedly.
"First of all we must see to it that he gets a little flesh on his
bones," he said to his daughter, who was busy at the table. "And then we must see that he gets
something else to do than to run
around the country selling rat traps."
"It is queer that things have gone downhill with him as badly as that," said the daughter. "Last
night I did not think there was anything about him to show that he had once been an educated
man.
"You must have patience, my little girl," said the father. "As soon as he gets clean and dressed
up, you will see something different



 The giant had almost caught =Anahuac when the lad vanished into the dark
of the cave, his faithful dog with him. For a moment or two the giant stood outside and people
wondered whether he would go in; then bellowing like a bull he plunged in, his head bent low.
But still some of the people hoped that it would be well with =Anahuac. They hoped that in the
dark he might be able to turn and dodge out again into the light of day, leaving the giant inside.
But it was not to be so. The sound of thunder was heard; down came the rocks which blocked the
opening; then other rocks, and others by the hundred, so that it seemed as if the whole mountain
were sliding. A great dust arose, a dust so thick that for a time those who looked could see
nothing. When it cleared away, nothing could be seen of the cave, and people knew that =Coati
was sealed up in it, and with him =Anahuac and the faithful dog. People turned away sadly. They
were full of grief because everyone loved the lighthearted =Anahuac who went about with a
smile and a song.
Now this is what happened inside the cave.
In the gloom of the cave =Anahuac saw the giant outside, eyes gleaming and teeth showing.
Anahuac also saw the rope. He stepped over it, being careful not to touch it, and he made his dog
go underneath; for had either as much as touched the rope with a hand or a paw, the cave would
have been sealed with the giant outside and =Anahuac and his dog lost inside. In that moment, as
the giant waited, =Anahuac laughed aloud to annoy the fearful fellow, and it was then that the
terrible creature bent his head and plunged in. =Anahuac and his dog stepped farther back and
hid in a corner. With a noise louder than thunder, the rocks came down, and after that, the dark.
=Anahuac could hear the giant grumbling and groping about, and once a great hand touched
=Anahuac's foot, but the lad drew himself together and made himself small, hardly daring to
breathe.
It was a great comfort for =Anahuac that his dog was with him, and that faithful creature crawled
close to his master's hand. Then the dog went away a little but soon came back and licked
=Anahuac's



thousand I chose it because it is the straightest. See how rough the bark, how sound the heart!"
The steel sinks again and again into the living wood and the chips dance in the air.
"Months ago was it that I marked this tree. One evening, the day's work done, at the hour when
the fields are misty beneath the setting sun, my young wife sitting by me told me of her hope.
With bared head I answered `Now God be praised!' And from the threshold of our cabin I showed
her this maple at the edge of the wood, taller than its fellows:  That is the very one I shall fell for
the cradle. Swifter the blow and thicker fly the chips. "And now has come the hour when the tree
must fall, for the time is not distant when a cradle
will be wanted in my house. A few more days of waiting and you shall see me driving to the
village, happy as any prince, and you shall hear the bells ring for the christening. Joy will abound
under my roof, and neighbors will be welcome to come through the forest to see the woodman's
son; for the table will not be bare." And yet more keenly bites the steel till the chips rain through
the air and strew and whiten the ground.
The wood-cutter smites with all the strength of his rejoicing; thews; his axe is at the tree's heart,
and still it falls, swings, falls again in the broadening deepening cut. Another blow, and the to p
shivers against the sky. For the last time the steel flashes  the old king bows himself over the
wound thus for an instant, shuddering to his uttermost twig, and with a long groan comes
crashing to earth.
A good job is done! Now, =Nicolas, strip the mighty trunk. Let
the neighbors lend a hand. Here! you =JohnnyBaptistes, stoutly ply the two-handed saw; square
the timber skillfully with the shin
ing broad-axe; and now, you sawyers, cut me up this master block. Fine planks they are, and truly
sawn! Be at them, =Nicolas, with hand-saw, auger and plane. Dove-tail the ends and drill the
holes straight. Carve bulrushes on the post heads with your knife. Now,
put all together. Here are the pegs, made to fit snugly. Work away with chisel, draw-knife and
mallet! The expected baby may arrive when it likes and the holy water.


the beach, so that =Glooskap, springing from her head, walked ashore on dry land. The whale,
thinking that she could never get off, was very angry, and sang a song of lament and blame. But
=Glooskap put one end of his strong bow against the whale's jaw, and taking the other end in his
hands, he placed his feet against the high bank, and, with a mighty push, he sent old =Blob again
into the deep water. Then, to keep the whale's friendship, he threw her an old pipe and a bag of
=Indian tobacco leaves for Glooskap was a great smoker  and the whale, greatly pleased with the
gift, lighted the pipe and smoking it swam far out to sea. =Glooskap watched her disappear from
view until he could see only clouds of her smoke against the sky. And to this day the whale has
=Glooskap's old pipe, and sailors often see her rise to the surface to smoke it in peace and to
blow rings of tobacco smoke into the air.
When the whale had gone, =Glooskap walked with great strides far inland. Soon he found the
way of which Loon had told him. It was the =RainbowRoad that led to the
=WildernessofFlowers. It lay through the land of the Sunrise, beautiful and fresh in the morning
light. On each side were sweet magnolias and palms, and all kinds of trees and flowers. The grass
was soft and velvety, for by night the dew was always on it, and snow and hail were unknown,
and winds never blew coldly, for here the charm of the Frost had no power.
=Glooskap went quickly along the flower-lined =RainbowRoad, until he came to an orange grove
where the air was sweet with the scent of blossoms. Soon he heard sounds of music. He peered
through the trees, and saw that the sounds came from an open space not far ahead, where the
grass was soft and where tiny streams were flowing and making melody. It was lilac-time in the
land, and around the open space all kinds of flowers in the world were blooming. On the trees
numberless birds were singing-birds of wonderfully colored feathers such as =Glooskap had
never heard or seen before. He knew that he had reached at last the =WildernessofFlowers, of
which old =TatlertheLoon had spoken. He drew deep breaths of honeysuckle and heliotrope and
countless other flowers,  until he soon grew strong again after his long voyage.


which, before half a century had passed, was to take them forever from her grasp.
There was a sad parting in the garden of the =ChateaudeBeaumont when the gallant young
officer bade farewell to his beloved and left her with the avowal of undying love still ringing in
his ears. There were final adieux at the port of =Rochelle when the vessel bearing =deNerac
turned her prow westward and sailed out on the dark waters of the broad =Atlantic, bound for
=Quebec, far up the great river =StLawrence.
The ocean was not kind to the officers and men of =deNerac's regiment, but at length,
storm-tossed and weary, they sailed into the quiet waters of the river and, making their way up
the mighty stream, at last cast anchor under the fortress of =StLouis, above which waved proudly
the lily flag of =France. There we must leave the young =Chevalier and turn our thoughts to his
affianced bride in the distant home-land.
=BlanchedeBeaumont came of a family whose members had done much for =France and who
had never failed nor fallen short in time of stress and need. The steadfast spirit which had made
their men unyielding fighters on many a battlefield, also made their women great lovers and their
love, once given, was never recalled. This was very true of =Blanche and, in the peaceful beauty
of her =French home, her heart was restless. She longed to be with her soldier-lover; she would
share his difficulties; she would even rejoice in the trials could they but meet them together. As
the days passed her longing became ever greater until, finally, she determined to brave the seas
and, at any cost in hardship, join =deNerac at =Quebec. She went at once to the same port at
which he had embarked and was not long in striking a bargain with the captain of a small vessel
who was carrying a cargo and a few passengers to =NewFrance.
The voyage was made without incident until the little craft was only one day distant from the
shore of the western world. Then dire misfortune suddenly overtook her. It came one beautiful
day when the blue waves, tipped here and there with a white edge of foam, seemed to mirror the
blue sky with its tiny, fleecy cloudlets.



in the whole world, or a girl either, who is not fascinated when a band goes marching up the
street.
However, his own music lessons got off to a rather bad start. It came about in this way: An old
friend of his father's, also a =Spanish gentleman, was in the habit of calling frequently upon the
=Sousas. One evening, during his visit, =Philip persisted in rolling a baseball around the room,
disturbing the conversation of the grown-ups. The gentleman, who was a retired orchestra player,
said that perhaps a few lessons in solfeggio' might be good for the boy. He knew instrumental
music; but alas, he had an atrocious voice for singing. At =Philip's first lesson with this
gentleman, he could distinguish no difference in the old man's tones. Every tone he tried to sing
sounded like every other tone. =Philip said the only difference was that "when he was calm he
squawked; when excited, he squeaked." At the first lesson, the gentleman wanted =Philip to sing
the syllables of the scale after him.
"Do," squawked the would-be voice teacher.
"Do," squawked =Philip in imitation.
"No, no, sing Do," and this time he squeaked.
"Do," squeaked =Philip, trying his best to imitate the very sound he had heard.
No wonder lessons like these left the boy worn out. He would have preferred to be out playing
baseball.
It was this same gentleman's son who opened a conservatory of music in the neighborhood
where =Philip lived. When the boy was seven, he was enrolled among the sixty pupils, and began
the study of violin. There were to be more stormy times with this teacher, the son of the old
squeaker.
=Philip overheard Professor =Esputa (the violin teacher) tell Mr =Sousa that even if =Philip
didn't learn anything it would at least keep him off the streets. =Philip was piqued " by this
remark. As a result, he never opened his mouth to volunteer any answers
for the first three years he was in Mr =Esputa's classes. The arrangement or singing of tones in
the scale by the names do, re, mi, and so on.


he quit, declaring that it was useless to fight a people who would make such sacrifices! But the
real reason was probably his age. When he joined the =Navy at =sixty-two, there was a rule that
no one over =forty-seven could be accepted. But, there was just one =Sousa, and the =Navy
needed him. Perhaps he thought that if he removed his beard, he would look younger than
=forty-seven!
During his long experience of having his own band, =Sousa saw the numbers of American
musicians increase more and more. When he assumed the direction of the =MarineBand as a
young man, there were not more than half a dozen native =Americans in the band. Twelve years
later, when he organized his own band, he tried to have them all =Americans. If the best players
of their respective instruments were foreign-born, he used them, but as time went on, most of his
bandsmen were =Americans. He was very pleased when some of his early bandsmen sent their
sons to play under him.
=Sousa was very jolly and humorous. He was a genial host and hated more than anything to have
to dine alone. His personality was magnetic; people were attracted to him. Though he could be
stern and strict when directing, his men were very fond of him. The band had a spirit of
comradeship. When the band numbered eighty and sometimes a hundred men, they had their own
ball teams and played games for their recreation.
=Sousa did not like the violent tone of the =Helicon tuba which was at first in use in the
=MarineBand. It was a large instrument which wound round the player's body. The player had to
pull it down over his head. He suggested to an instrument-maker a tuba with a large-sized upright
bell, so. that the sound would, as he said, "diffuse over the entire band like the frosting on a
cake." The instrument was made, and it is still used, and called the =Sousaphone. =Sousa did not
believe that there is any nationalism in music. He felt that composers who have been called
writers of national music were merely interpreting themselves and their own reaction to life.
Perhaps he was right. A man in =Norway, for instance, would naturally have different feelings
about a snowy landscape from the man who lived in a jungle on the equator.


stood for some weeks. One morning =Koch came in muttering, "There's one thing we haven't
tried  I was thinking about it last night"
He took a fresh tuberculous specimen, made a slide, and stained it with methylene blue. Then he
nodded in the direction of the bottle of potassium hydroxide which stood near the test-tube rack.
=Gaffky handed it to him silently.
When the slide was ready =Koch sighed and said, "This is the two hundred and seventy-first."
Then he looked. Small, and quite slender, and certainly harmless looking were the little rods
which he distinguished against the blue background of the slide. They looked without doubt like
bacilli, yet not like any specific bacilli that he had ever seen. He stared at them for a few
moments and then exclaimed, "=Gaffky, look at this!"
=Gaffky did. He whistled softly and said, "Do you think they?"
"I don't think anything," =Koch snapped nervously. "Not anything."
And he went out for his morning coffee, not permitting himself the obvious conclusion that he,
first of all men, had just seen the most destructive creature in the world.
The next day word went round to each hospital in =Berlin. =Koch at the University wanted a
slide from every tuberculosis victim in the wards and in the morgue. Material poured in, all of it
subsequently treated by the more elaborate staining system =Koch soon
adopted, all of it crawling with the little rods he still did not care to name.
"I think," he said late one evening, "that it is safe to suspect
some connection between this bacillus whatever-it-is and tuberculosis.
"I think it might be," said =Gaffky, flipping through the notebook which bulged with their
reports. "But let's not be too hasty."
The sarcasm was entirely lost on =Koch, who was too preoccupied with the staining of a slide to
be aware that =Gaffky had answered him.



They listened every evening to the eight o'clock news on the radio. They heard about =Norway,
and =France, and =Denmark, and =Dunkirk, and =Greece.
Then, one day, there was news of the =Canadian boys trapped on =HongKong.
=Jumbo talked to =Dad one night.
"I've been thinking maybe I should join up, =Dad," he said. He spoke very seriously. It was as
though the whole course of the war depended upon his taking a personal hand in it.
That was the way =Jumbo did things.
He said it in the same way he might have said. "I think we
should put the north corner into summer fallow this year." Dad said:
"I don't want to advise you, my boy. It's your own choice."
 The following Monday, =Jumbo got up early and put on his good suit. =Dad got up and put on
his good suit, too. They got the car out of the yard and drove towards the city. It was a long drive,
and they talked. "What's it going to be  the army? I know a bit about the army, but I don't know
nothing about that there air force or navy.
=Jumbo said:
"I don't know, =Dad. I've been thinking maybe I'd try the air force. I'm pretty good with engines
and machinery. I got that tractor running, remember? I hear they're looking for men to work on
them airplanes." The sergeant at the recruiting centre smiled when the two of them came to the
counter. Dad walked up to him.
"This boy, here, has come in to find out about joining your air force."
The sergeant looked them over. The old man was tall, gaunt, and shabby. He looked stooped and
worn. There were deep lines in his face. His hands were hard and brown.
The kid with him was just another big, husky, farm boy. 


 entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of
unfairness against this plan; for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own
hands?
This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as
fervent and imperious as his own. As is usual in such cases, she was the apple of his eye, and was
loved by him above all humanity. Among his courtiers was a young man of that fineness of blood
and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens.
This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree
unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism
in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many
months, until, one day, the king happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor waver
in regard to his duty in the premises. The youth was immediately cast into prison, and a day was
appointed for his trial in the king's arena. This, of course, was an especially important occasion,
and His Majesty, as well as all the people, was greatly interested in the workings and
development of this trial. Never before had such a case occurred-never before had a subject dared
to love the daughter of a king. In after years such things became commonplace enough, but then
they were, in no slight degree, novel and startling.
The tiger cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage and relentless beasts, from
which the fiercest monster might be selected for the arena, and the ranks of maiden youth and
beauty throughout the land were carefully surveyed by competent judges, in order that the young
man might have a fitting bride in case fate did not determine for him a different destiny. Of
course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had been done. He
had loved the princess, and neither he, she, nor anyone else thought of denying the fact. But the
king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of the
tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned
out, the youth would be disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching. 



he said, somewhat to my surprise. As a matter of fact, and quite frankly, last time I had pulled too
soon, and it might be wise to learn to hold it a little longer. From below it had looked as if my
chute had just barely cleared the ship's tail.
I knew that. Last time I had ripped not when it seemed best but when my nerves had ripped-at the
exact moment when the fear of tangling in the tail had been overpowered by the horror and
confusion of the bottomless drop. This time, I must try for absolute nerve control.
The rigger put the finishing touch to his job. With indelible ink he signed his name and the date
on a white cloth label sewn to the pack. This is a licensed rigger's guarantee that a parachute has
been opened, inspected, refolded, and repacked within sixty days preceding flight, as the law
demands; that it will work. Then he handed it to me for my inspection. I handed it back, and he
cracked the standard joke of the occasion:
"If it doesn't work, bring it back and we'll refund your money."
=Miller phoned to town for the pilot to come out: this guy was here now and wanted to jump.
The mechanics still had considerable fixing to do on the old plane and its =WorldWar engine
before it would fly. Meanwhile, there was nothing for me to do but to stand around on the field
and wait. Hard on the nerves, because it gives you time to think, and you can't help calculating
your chances. The speed of a man falling through the air is one hundred and twenty miles per
hour; faster than that he won't fall, because of air resistance, but that is fast enough. It would give
me three seconds for every five hundred feet. It would take keen timing not to pancake.
I didn't feel like talking, but a reporter came and questioned me: why jump parachutes?
The real reason, of course, he would not understand, nor would his readers; least of all would the
farmer understand it into whose field, in case of mishap, the final mess would burst. The real
reason was that a man likes to test his nerve and to get closer and closer and still a little closer to
the edge of life.
They were now wheeling the ship out of the hangar. Time to get ready. Word had somehow
spread, and cars had come in from.



 Only a few tiny cracks were within reach to serve as purchase for him. But =Doug would not
give up. He hitched up his trousers, and grasped a tiny groove of rock with the tips of the fingers
of his left hand, pressing his right hand flat against the smooth rock wall as if it had magical
sticking power. Slowly he shifted his left knee until it was slightly over the ledge above him. To
do so he had to stand tiptoe on his right foot. Pulling with his left hand, he brought his right knee
up. =Doug was now on both knees on the upper ledge. If he could find good purchase overhead
for his hands, he was safe. His hands explored the wall above him. He moved them slowly over
most of it without finding a hold. Then he reached straight above his head and cried out, "This is
our lucky day." He had found strong rough edges of rock, and on this quickly pulled himself up.
His hands were on a ledge a foot wide. He lay down on it on his stomach and grasped my
outstretched hand. The pull of his strong arm against the drop of a hundred feet or more was as
comforting an experience as any I can recall. In a jiffy I was at his side. We pounded each other
on the shoulders and laughed.
My own most serious trouble was yet to come. For a while =Doug and I were separated. I worked
laterally along a ledge to the south, found easier going, and in a short time was two hundred feet
or more up the rock wall. I was above =Doug, twenty-five feet or so, and fifty feet to his right.
We had been extremely careful to test each toe- and fingerhold before putting our trust in it.
=Kloochman is full of treacherous rock. We often discovered thin ledges that crumbled under
pressure and showered handfuls of rock and dust down below. Perhaps I was careless; but
whatever the cause, the thin ledge on which I was standing gave way.
As I felt it slip, I grabbed for a hold above me. The crevasse I seized was solid. But there I was,
hanging by my hands two hundred feet in the air, my feet pawing the rock. To make matters
worse, my camera had swung between me and the cliff when I slipped. It was a crude and clumsy
instrument, a box type that.



The =Indians were still heading northwest. Likely they were bound for the hundred-mile lake,
=Panchikamats, not far from the headwaters of streams that flowed into =HudsonBay. =Mathieu
would feel safe there. It was much farther than =Jan could track him, with only three days' grub
in the bag. In the morning he passed their second night's camp. By noontime he had come to the
edge of a big, oval marsh that was about six miles wide at its narrowest. On its barren floor there
were occasional clumps of dead sticks, juniper and fir, no higher than a man's head, the firs
rotten; and falling, the junipers gaunt and windcarved. Compared to its bleak, dead savagery the
greenwoods borders seemed sociable and friendly and snug. As the merciless northwest wind had
stunted and killed the trees, so it could shrivel and kill a man if it caught him out there in a
blizzard. The trail was dim and wind scoured. A mile out and there was nothing but the dully
shining spots the sleds had polished; two miles out and =Mathieu was veering off to the east,
deviating now from his northwest course. The marks petered out entirely, heading, at last,
straight east. If =Mathieu were really heading northwest, the blue notch at the marsh's far end
was the natural way for him. Then why, in the middle of the marsh, did he swing off for the steep
ridges to the east?
=Jan trotted about in a circle, slapping his mittens together and pounding the toes that were
aching in his moccasins. The drifting snow slid by like sand, rising in little eddies as the wind
rose.
He stopped and stood with his back to the wind, leaning against it. =Mathieu, he figured, wanted
to go through the blue notch, but it was too plain. He knew his track could be picked up there
first thing. So he cut off in the middle of the marsh, thinking there would be no mark of it left.
=Mathieu had just made a little circle-around, and was now right on down the valley.
=Jan picked up his game bag and trotted off toward the now invisible notch. Lord =Harry, he was
hungry. In the wind he felt like singing; the wind drowned sound, sang a song of its own, saved.



"There's two doughnuts in the kitchen for you," she said. =Jody slid to the kitchen, and returned
with half of one of the doughnuts already eaten and his mouth full. His mother asked him what
he had learned in school that day, but she didn't listen to his doughnut-muffled answer. She
interrupted, "=Jody, tonight see you fill the wood box clear full. Last night you crossed the sticks
and it wasn't only half full. Lay the sticks flat to-night. And =Jody, some of the hens are hiding
eggs, or else the dogs are eating them. Look about in the grass and see if you can find any nests."
Jody, still eating, went out and did his chores. He saw the quail come down to eat with the
chickens when he threw out the grain. For some reason his father was proud to have them come.
He never allowed any shooting near the house for fear the quail might go away.
When the wood box was full, =Jody took his twenty-two rifle up to the cold spring at the brush
line. He drank again and then aimed the gun at all manner of things, at rocks, at birds on the
wing, at the big black pig kettle under the cypress tree, but he didn't shoot, for he had no
cartridges, and wouldn't have until he was twelve. If his father had seen him aim the rifle in the
direction of the house he would have put the cartridges off another year. =Jody remembered this
and did not point the rifle down the hill again. Two years was enough to wait for cartridges.
Nearly all of his father's presents were given with reservations which hampered their value
somewhat. It was good discipline.
The supper waited until dark for his father to return, and at last he came in with =BillyBuck.
After supper, =Jody sat by the fireplace and his shy polite eyes sought the room corners, and he
waited for his father to tell what it was he contained, for =Jody knew he had news of some sort.
But he was disappointed. His father pointed a stern finger at him.
`you'd better go to bed, =Jody. I'm going to need you in the morning.
That wasn't so bad. =Jody liked to do things he had to do as long as they weren't routine things.
He looked at the floor and his mouth worked out a question before he spoke it. "What are we
going to do in the morning, kill a pig?" he asked softly.

&&000 end of file