VANCOUVER ISLAND REGIONAL LIBRARY Serving Vancouver Island from Saanich Inlet to Campbell River * Headquarters: Nanaimo, B.C. Angel Trading Company JOHN GOROSH, Proprietor Dealers in Iron and Scrap Metals NEW and USED GOODS * NANAIMO “The Canadian Ex-Service Men’‘s Organization” THE CANADIAN LEGION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE SERVICE LEAGUE Coffee Bar and Games in New Building Nanaimo Branch, No. 10, B.C. 345 Wallace Street Nanaimo, B.C. OVER 30 YEARS LEADING CANADA IN ENTERTAINMENT STARLITE DRIVE-IN CAPITOL and STRAND FAMOUS PLAYERS THEATRES NANAIMO, B.C. YOUR B. F. GOODRICH RUBBER CO. TIRE WAREHOUSE Operated by VINCE’S GARAGE * 220 WALLACE STREET PHONE 1676 NANAIMO TOWING LTD. MARINE TOWING and SALVAGE * NANAIMO B.C. When in Nanaimo come to the KOFFEE KUP HOME OF GOOD FOOD Home-made Pastries, Meals and Light Lunches 1350 Brechin Rd. Nanaimo, B.C. GLOBE HOTEL 25 Front Street Nanaimo, B.C. 25 ROOMS WITH AND WITHOUT BATHS All Rooms Recently Renovated All Modern Conveniences Rates Most Reasonable UP-TO-DATE REFRESHMENT PARLORS Nat and Jimmy Bevis, Proprietors Page Twenty-six —might easily send an ivory-barbed harpoon or flint-tipped arrow hurt- ling out of the darkness, forever end- ing his career. With his body cast into some deep crevice, and dogs and in- terpreter disposed of, the Eskimos would feel that it would be a long time ere another white man would come prying into their secrets, or seeking to avenge him. Instead, Joy had contrived to gain their confidence and make these primitive savages his friends. Although Nukudlah had sent back word that he’d be in when the sun ceased to hide behind the mountains the Eskimo still hadn’t arrived, while the deep-throated wail of the Arctic’s siren was due any day to come echoing over the oily green seas dotted with stupendous bergs and scintillating floe-ice. A shadow fell across the doorway. Before the sergeant stood a tall, broad- shouldered savage. With a disarming smile the Eskimo extended his hand and voiced the greeting “Chimo!” Then, in sonorous tones, he added: “Me—Nukudlah!” Baffin Land’s First Court At the preliminary hearing, quickly organized in the Hudson’s Bay post, the accused spoke without hesitation concerning their parts in ridding their land of “the mad-dog, Jen,” and, with perspiration oozing down their oily faces, heard themselves committed to stand trial for Janes’ murder a year later when the Government would send in a judge and jury. In the mean- time they'd remain prisoners at Pond’s Inlet, though free to hunt and trap. Hardly had the hearing concluded ere the wail of the Arctic’s siren re- vergerated over the ice that now choked the harbor, rendering it im- passable for the ship. Fighting the grinding floes Joy succeeded, at last, in working his whaleboat alongside and handed the captain a letter addressed to the Commissioner in distant Ottawa, telling of the arrest of Janes’ murderers, and enclosing the documentary findings of Baffin Land’s first Court. * * * * * In the summer of 1923 the White Man’s Law, in all its panoply, reached the Land of the Midnight Sun. Although it was August when the S.S. Arctic nosed her way through the floe-ice and dropped anchor in Pond’s Inlet, a snowstorm was beating DOBSON FLOORS COMPLETE FLOOR SERVICE —PITTSBURGH PAINTS— 71 Victoria Crescent NANAIMO on the panes of the newly-completed barracks. A wave of pleasurable ex. citement swept the sealskin tupeks of the Iglulirmuits, for they had a hazy feeling they were going to witness another manifestation of white man’s magic. One they'd already witnessed. For, had not this bie Kud-loo-nah, Joy, given an cxhibition of white man’s medicine and magic in transforming, in a few simple words, the formidable Nukudlah into a peaceful man, caus- ing him to travel many moons over rocky glaciers and dangerous sea-ice to submit tamely to the red-coat’s will? The Trial Flanked by a scarlet-coated escort and lawyers in flowing silk sat His Honour, Judge Rivet of Montreal, in wig and gown, facing the Stone Age prisoners in the dock, and a jury empanelled from sailors aboard the ship. Upon the floor squatted circle upon circle of skin-clad Iglulirmuits, their oily faces blank and expression- less as they wondered what the fuss was all about. “Jen” was dead and the white man, with all his “medicine,” couldn’t bring him back to life! Beneath the smoky rays of the mid- night sun the jury retired to the beach to consider the evidence. After a twenty-minute recess the foreman signified they’d reached a verdict. Nukudlah was found guilty of man- slaughter. Ourourengnak of being an accessory, while Ahteetah was pro- claimed “not guilty.” Judge Rivet found himself faced with an awkward problem. The whites had invaded the ancestral hunting-grounds of these primitive Stone-Age Eskimos, bringing new ideas and customs. But a white man had been killed, and even these polar reaches must be made safe for the course of Caucasian commerce; for white traders to barter their guns and trinkets for furs. While a sentence to be worked out at Pond’s Inlet wouldn’t be likely to impress the na- tives, imprisonment in a white man’s penitentiary would be equivalent to a death sentence since such confinement would inevitably bring tuberculosis in its train. Solemnly the judge sen- tenced Ourourengnak to two years detention at Pond’s Inlet. Then, gazing at the tall unyielding figure of Nukudlah, he pronounced his sen- tence: ten years hard labor in Stony Mountain Penitentiary! Under orders from Joy, now pro- Eagle Building Telephone 464 Chris. Wright & Co. PREFERRED RISK INSURANCE REAL ESTATE Agents for Canadian National Railways Transatlantic Steamship Lines and All Air Lines 135 Bastion St., P.O. Drawer 23, NANAIMO THE SHOULDER STRAP