_THE SPELL OF THE WHITE STURGEON_ JIM KJELGAARD DODD, MEAD & COMPANY NEW YORK 1953 Copyright, 1953 By Jim Kjelgaard All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher _Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 53-6314_ Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., Binghamton, N. Y. TO David LeClair and Richard Smith _CONTENTS_ _Chapter One_ Storm 1 _Two_ Wreck 16 _Three_ On the Beach 34 _Four_ Trouble for the _Spray_ 54 _Five_ Rescue 73 _Six_ New Venture 89 _Seven_ Partners 109 _Eight_ Action 125 _Nine_ Pirates 144 _Ten_ The Great Fish 160 _Eleven_ Fisherman's Luck 171 _Twelve_ The Pond 184 The characters and situations in this book are wholly fictional and imaginative: they do not portray and are not intended to portray any actual persons or parties. _THE SPELL OF THE WHITE STURGEON_ CHAPTER ONE _STORM_ Ramsay Cartou leaned on the rail of the ponderous side-wheeler, the _H. H. Holter_, and watched without interest while a horse-drawn truck brought another load of cattle hides on board. The sweating stevedores who were loading the _Holter_ and the belaboring mate who supervised them began stowing the hides into the hold. The _Holter's_ winch, either ruined by an inexpert operator or about to fall apart anyhow, was broken. All the work had to be done by hand. Ramsay turned to breathe the clean air that swept in from Lake Michigan. It was impossible, anywhere on the _Holter_, to get away from the smell of the hides, but at least he did not have to look at them. Not since he had left the brawling young city of Chicago two days before, to make his way north to the equally lusty young city of Milwaukee, had the sun shone. In those two days, while he waited for repairs to the engine hauling the train in which he was riding, he had seen nothing of the lake. Now, from the mouth of the river where the _Holter_ was anchored, he had a clear view, and it was exciting. The grays of the sky and the grays of the lake were indefinable, with no clear separation. Ramsay shivered slightly.