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'h Iwn plan In iiinko thi'lr way In it Moravian mission, of w-hlrli Kiithcr M. (truth has i-harKe. rii.ilr ii,-iiialiitaiii-i' ripens Into Invi-. Tin. H'l'l iHlnemliers that Iiit niunn Is Jnyi-o Pelly. Slio Is iliuiKlitcr of the man Anderson Iuih heen sunt to arrest. Torn ln.lvvei.il ln-r love for her father unit her regard for Anderson, the Klrl iiraetlcaUy drives him from her. In the forest Anderson hi iimliles upon the entrance to a KorKe and Is convinced he has located Polly's mine. CHAPTER X Continued 8 Let; saw Hint from Hie mint where Ii o vuis dliiKiiiK. there appeared to he ii fairly easy descent tn the hiiltuni. It wns (inly (lie upicr parts of tlie cllfTs In the K'i-jri! that wore iiiisoalahle. Hut he could no no further now. Anxiety for Joyce was rising In him. llo was half afralJ she illicit do Hdinetlunii rash. In some way Kathway seeineil to bo Associated with Telly; perhaps he was prelectine; lilm. . Suppose, then, that t lie (jlrl linil gone buck to the Free Trailers' lieailipiarters on Siston lake? (lr Meil into the storm In her frenzy? !Snipose lliey hail been followeil? l.eo remembered his fancy that he had seen nn Indian watching them. Tbe Kree Trailers would surely have been watihliii,' the trail at either end of the lake, knowing Mint sooner or later they must eincr-o out of the forests. Then be iTineiiibeied the shadow In the Ins; house, and this specter In which he bud disbelieved, now be.cun to assume In Ids mind a formidable aspect. Suddenly, ns I.ee chins tiiere, be heard a ruiublini; sound above his bead, and a moiueni later something hurtled past It and smashed upon the ground of the chnsin. Looking down. I.ee saw tbe fragments of an enormous enor-mous boulder lying on the ground immediately im-mediately beneath him. He had had n narrow escape. And icluctanlly be turned to re-enter the tunnel. Hut before be had thrust bis head and shoulders in, there came another an-other rumble. And this time it was only the Utile projecting ledge above bis head that saved his life. j The boulder struck tbe edge of it, shot out into the air. and. just missing him, smashed to pieces In-low. l.ee looked up, hut the overhanging cliffs shut out the view of everything except the overhanging bushes and the sky. Whether or not human agency was responsible for tbe fall of the two boulders, it was certain that the tunnel's tun-nel's mouth did not appear to be a particularly healthy spot at that moment. mo-ment. And I.ee forced bis bend and shoulders shoul-ders through, and groped for tbe rock ladder within, bruising Ids thighs and shins against tbe edges of the openings. open-ings. Kxtetuling his hands, ho felt tbe smooth surface of tbe water-worn, in-lorior in-lorior wall. He grasped the ladder, clung to it. palled himself up. and fiund-hls ''noting. And then of a sudden Lee had the rniuistakable instinct that he was nut alone. There was another living thing within the tunnel! Though it was absolutely dark, except ex-cept for the faintest reflection from the interior of the gorge, which frtered ' vp from below, and though Lee could not hear the faintest sound, he felt its i't'i'-t'ii'v; by some inner sense that w:is not hearing, be felt the r'.iythmiea' pulsations of its life. And it was a human being. Lee f el t the fog of human hatred tiling out to ward him. Instinctively ho knew the "mnilnotioo of an encounter under conditions con-ditions more nerve-racking than nny !-e had ever experienced, lie knew for sure now that the fail of the two boulders had been no accident. lie had been watched, he had been seen to enter, and that watcher meant to tight him to the death. And o: course tt wns I'ellyl lie did not relish the prospect of a struggle with the crazed old man, one which eou'il hardly pnd la any other v. ay than by the ib-.itii of one of ll,.-m. II would b- a sharp, ri-b-r.t-i--i su-ii.h1!., In wht.-h L-e'e U.'sadvan-tag. U.'sadvan-tag. lay in tin' fact that he euuM nut l,c the lir.it to tin-. I.e.- eall'-d : "Ii that Vi.ll, I'eliy? 1 I waul to tail; to yuu." .',, uu-.v.-r came. lb- strained tils iicA.-ird through the darkness. c,,I, ..-I and v. b.-ls of light Hashed ,-r-,-s Ids Nion nn-i went out. 'Telly, liV'-n to tin-:" I.ee tried "Von know w hat I've emit f.,r. Vou'ie got no chance. Surrender, Surren-der, and yiu'll get fair treatment." Still no answer; and y.-t J-ce could f,.,. that other human pi-rsoi-ality . I ,s.- to Mm. He waited, bal'.led. lM-ie was no way to move, save vertically; ver-tically; and tin-re was no possible roll', ro-ll', -at for him. The lee-smooth granite walls were all about Mm. The tunnel tun-nel was a straight, narrow shaft, up and down, from the rucking sumo above to that deadly drop below. It was Impos-lble to rush the other, impossible to do anything except to clamber sillily up those slippery rungs of rock, expecting every Instant to boar the mar t Telly's pistol and to receive the bullet ill his breast. It was absurdity. And once again Lee tried : Tolly, you'd better give up. I can shout yi.il from hero. Surrender, and " Ho did nut end that sentence. For. as ho clung there, in a moment the thing above him had materialized into life, action, fury. A bellow burst from Its throat, and the sound, compressed ivlihin the shaft, and dellected from wall to wall, sounded like the roar of some prehistoric monster. And a heavy body was precipitated against Mm with a force that all but dislodged him. Lor nn Instant Lee struggled wildly to retain his balance mid then there came a blow over the heart that knocked the wind out of him. Lee's band encountered nn enormous hnnd nt his chest. Within that hand he felt the hilt of n knife. Reaching back, Lee's fingers closed upon the last Inch or two of n wide blade. The steel appeared to be burled almost al-most to the extremity within his body. There wns no sense of n stnb, but for nn instant I.ee felt a deadly fnint-ness fnint-ness overcome Mm, and again he reeled and clutched for foothold. Then he bad torn the band away, plucked out the knife, and burled it down through the darkness of the tunnel into the gorge below. Tbe next Inslnnt he was fighting the most desperate battle of his life to win through the tunnel before he bled Into unconsciousness. lie caught nt two long, sinewy arms that clutched his body in the endeavor to fling him down; nnd, holding on by their knees and feet, the two wrestled In complete silence. It wns a man tbe thing thnt held Lee, but It seemed more like a monster, mon-ster, for tbe naked arms were covered with thick hair, underneath which the sinews moved over each other like steel bands. Lee was no match in wrestling; be could only cling on like grim death, feeling his lungs constrict under that pressure, and expecting every ev-ery moment to feel his injured rib crack In his side. Ills left band encountered a groove in the rocky rung above him. nnd, gripping it, determined that nothing should tear his hold away, with his right fist be begnn hammering his assailant's as-sailant's face and body incessantly. His blows rebounded from the great chest ns if It were of rubber, and each blow sent the breath issuing hoarsely from the lungs with raucous wheezing that filled the tunnel. If the other could have got Lee's left hand, he might have torn him from his hold, but, as if unaware of his hold, his nssailant put nil his strength into the endeavor to force breath from his hotly nnd twist him backward; while I.ee, clinging on desperately, des-perately, continued to batter the face and body. Although it wns Impossible to drawback draw-back his arm far enough to deliver a blow with full force. Lee's lower position gave him tbe advantage of equipoise over his strange assailant. ' and enabled him to administer fear- ful punishment. For a minute or two It wns problo-I problo-I mnrlc whether I.ee could withstand the i strain long enough to conquer. Tbe j great shoulders swung Lee from side to side in the shaft like a child, and ill the w hile Lee, believing hi nsolf seriously, if not fatally wounded, fought on with the mechanical action of a piston, dashing his fists Into his opponent's face until at last groans began be-gan to burst from the other. Then, fooling tbe clutch relaxing. Lee let go his bold, and, standing straight up on the rung, brought both ttsts into play. Xo human being could have stood up against that fearful punishment. Lee's fists were wot with blood. The grasp about him relaxed. He redoubled the fury of his blows and suddenly found thnt he wns bam-"jering bam-"jering at the bare face of the rock. His assailant was gine. Faintly Lee heard the scraping of his feet on he upper ledges of the rock ladder. Then, feeling cautiously above him, T.ee continued his ns.-ent. until nt length there came a tiny glimmer of i ight from above, changing into a sud-; sud-; len glare ns of high noon. ; Tbe tunnel was empty. ! The glare decreased to a glimmer. Le understood what it meant. His assailant as-sailant had tilted back the rucking ?tone and fled. In anott.er moment or two Lee was By j Victor Rousseau j Hjopyrlihl by w. O. ChAp.nn i W i ' srv:ce. beneath the stone, lie flattened himself him-self upon th gruiind and drew bis automatic. au-tomatic. He tired one shot, and, before be-fore the echoes had died away, had pushed the stone back and emerged, pistol in hand. The glare had been only In contrast to the dark of the tunnel. Outside It was melancholy twilight. Lee emerged Into a .solitary, niowliound world. There was no sign of his antagonist, who bad evidently had enough for the present. I.ee looked down at the fragments of shirt that remained to him, expecting expect-ing to tlnd himself soaked In blood. Ho was astonished to see only n thin thread on bis chest. He tore the rag open. There wns only a scratch on the skin from the knife-point, but there was a spreading bruise under the thick rolls of Joyce's hair, In which the knife blade hud become entangled. The blow, struck Immediately over Ihe heart, would have killed him Instantly In-stantly but for that. Lee raised the tresses reverently to his lips. And with a deep fooling of tenderness toward the girl, he began to make bis way through the twilight toward the log house. lie wns torn between npprebenslon for her nnd speculation as to his assailant. assail-ant. His first thought had been Mint the man whs Pelly. But now he began be-gan to doubt this. An old mnn might have hnd ids assailant's strength lie would not have bud tbe endurance. But stronger still was the conviction that thnt monstrous form which had attacked him In Ihe shaft could never have been the father of Joyce. Yet who but Pelly knew the secret of the mine? The problem wns nt present Insoluble, Insol-uble, but its consideration brought with It the fear thnt Joyce might hnve been attacked ns well. Lee quickened his footsteps through the storm, He Flattened Himself on the Ground and Drew His Automatic. which was now subsiding, though the snow still fell steadily. He blamed himself bitterly for having left the girl. Surely the strength of thnt love nnd tenderness be felt toward her would reach her, and she would respond ! And he planned what lie would sny to her. He would advise her thnt it was Improbable that her father would receive anything but a nominal sentence, sen-tence, thnt he might even go free, that in the absence of witnesses a conviction convic-tion might prove Impossible. His lies! course would be to surrender. I.ee began to grow more hopeful. The log house came into sight, standing bare and bleak In the snowy wilderness. There was no light within. Lee's alarm increased. lie hurried to the door. He called, but no answer came. He struck a match, r.y the tiny light he saw that the kitchen and the adjacent room were empty. And be began going from room to room, striking matches and calling her. nnd knowing nil the while the futility fu-tility of it. Joyce was not in the house. She had fled into the snow, nnd. desperately weary ns he was after bis encounter, Lee had no alternative but ! to take up the quest. She could nut 1 have gone far. but she must have been j in a state of desperation to have gone i out into that storm. Which way? The falling snow had surely lung since ob-! ob-! literated her footprints. He made bis way down toward the trail beside die river. -Only two ways were possible: one ran toward the mission, nine or ten miles aw-;iy, the I other In tbe opposite direction to the I Free Trailers" headquarters. But suddenly Lee's hones nm! spirits leaped up confidently. Stooping, Stoop-ing, he traced the tracks of a sleigh along the trail. It had been d-awn by a sing'e nurse, and it was going In the direction of the mission, j There was only one reasonable ln-i ln-i Vre-noe. Father Mctirath must have eon passir.g. perhaps be had met Joyce, and he bad taen her with htm. I.ee took up the lung walk Immediately. Imme-diately. The snow was deep, progress was difficult without enowshues. nnd the frost bad already crusted the surface, sur-face, so that his feet sank In cum-brutisly cum-brutisly nt every step. Hut a great load was removed from his mind; the future new looked roseate. At last the mission came into sight a gmup of log huts clustered about a larger one on u low elevation, surrounded sur-rounded by the forest. Lights gleamed plensa inly Inside them. A horse was neighing in some stables. Over the largest hut a wooden cross stood out against the background of the sea-gray s k y . Lee strode up the ascent, hesitated as to which hut to approach, stood irresolute ir-resolute for a moment In the open space nt the crest of the little hill. Then, us he waited, the door of one of them was filing open, and n mnn In a mncklnaw and lumberman's boots stepped out toward him. Under his arm he bold a rillo. He presented It nt Lee's breast. He looked to be nhotit fifty yenrs of age, or n little older. He hud a round, smooth face ns soft ns a bnbe's, nn Incipb-nt pnunch. A silver cross hung from his mncklnnw. A Jolly-looking priest; but the eyes within tbe face were stcel-grny nnd Ice cold. He stopped two puces distant. "Tnke yersel' off, ye doraned Free Trader," he said softly, "or I'll blow ye Into Kingdom Come!" CHAPTER XI "If You Find My Father" Lee spoke quietly. "I want to see Miss Felly." "Aye, ye want to see Mees Pelly ! But ye cannn see her and ye wilna see her." "Will you give Miss Pelly my message?" "Will ye tnk' yersel' awa'?" "Xo !" McOrnth flung down the rifle. "Come on. then ; come on, ye swine of a hooch peddler!" he shouted, brandishing bran-dishing his fists. Lee flung up It is arm Just in time to protect himself against a straight right that would have knocked him senseless. Next moment Fnther Mc-Grath's Mc-Grath's arms were locked around him, holding him as if In a vise. "Will yc tuk' yersel' awa' before I'm tempted to forget my calling?" the father panted. "Father McGratb " "I'll ha' no dealing wl' ye and your nest of Ineequity. I'm no afeard of all the Free Traders thnt lver come oot o' h 1. I'll send ye back to the de'll before your time, If you come meddling med-dling wl' my meesion. "I've made my compact wl' your ninlster, as I'd mak' a compact wl" tbe evil one himself, to protect my bairns. Mebbe ye' re a new hand J don't remember your face so I'll remind re-mind ye of it. Ye're to be free to peddle your filthy liquors wbuur ye weel aye, nn' I dlnna doot the guld Lord wtill score It again ye too, for sbaniin' Ills good corn whuskey by mee.xin' in your feelthy wood alcohol the way ye do ye can peddle them whu r ye please, but ye'll leave my lasses and weans alone, or I'll mak Siston lake too hot to hold ye." "rather Mctirath " Lee tried again. "Will ye fight, mon to njon, ye domned Free Trader? Will 'e fight or wrestle wl' me?" "I'd be glad fu, Falher, but just now-one now-one of my ribs is broken. When I get better, perhaps " Father McGralh released him. "Ye're spenkin' ihe truth? Well, then, lak yersel' off. Ye cannn see Mees Felly" A light footstep sounded beside him. Joyce stood" there. Lee swung toward her. "I came to make sure you were safe. Joyce " Lee held out his arms. "Pinna speak to him, Mees Felly. I uniierstan' he's helped ye uye, there's guod in the wursst of us but he'll gel around ye, Mees I'eliy, Go back!" "Father, there's something I want to say to him," Joyce answered In a low voice. "Aye, hut he's got a smooth tongue, and the stomp of ineequity hasn't come upon his face yet. "e wouldna theenk he'd sold hissolf to his Minister. If ye must speak to him, I'll Just stand by, and If I see he's getting 'round ye I'll send lilm about his business." With which the doughty father look up bis post just out of hearing- glaring glar-ing at Lee and prepared for insian-taneous insian-taneous intervention. Joyce stepped forward. "Lee, I I'm sorry for what 1 said to you this afternoon. It was partly the shock of awakening, I think. I was unjust to yuu. and unjust, too, in coming here without trying to got word to you. I owe yon a great deal. I accept your word that when you met me in the range yuu did not know who I was. that ymi did nut pursue my acquaintance because I was the daughter of Ihe man whom it was your duty to apprehend. I I beta- yuu no ill-will fur having to do your duty." "Then. Joyce" "But." she s-i-d s-i'emnly, "you will 1 see how i-.iy i'a'hor's safety, perhaps his life, stands bo-ween us. We :an only be enemies--t t least, until " "That's what I wanted tc speak about." s :!d Loo. "As I understand, it. this killing was committed yours ngo. a whole generation ngo. It was more or less Justified. If your father Is brought to trial and convicted. It. will almost certainly be for nianslaui'liter. Ills sentence will be a nominal one. Quite probably it will be impossible to produce the witnesses required to convict con-vict nt all. In such case he will go free. "He has acted 111-advlsedly. He should never have tied. His best course will be to surrender. lie will find himself a free man in a little while, Instead of a hunted outlaw. Will you unite with me in persuading him to surrender?" She shook her bend. "We always told Mm that my mother nnd I." she answered. "But tbe thing had crazed Mm, he hated civilization after It happened. hap-pened. He was Insane upon that subject. sub-ject. He will never surrender. "Let me try to picture to you what happened, and the treachery and faithlessness faith-lessness that have always pursued him. When my father tied from the law he came bore nnd settled with my mother. I wns born here. For it long time wo were very happy. My father trapped, and in those (lays this was one of the richest fur districts In Canada. "But my fnther was nn educated mnn, and In Ida heart he was always chafing against ids exile. He always cherished the hope some 'day to tnke us south where I could be educated properly. Then In nn evil day he fancied fan-cied he hnd discovered a gold mine. "It beenme a mania with lilm. He would tell no one where It was, except Jacques Leboeuf, nn old servant, whom he trusted. They used' to go off by night and work it together. My fnther wns always talking about the gold he had collected. He wanted to develop the mine, to sell It for a fortune, but he wns always afraid of being discovered, dis-covered, and he put It off and put It off; and neither my mother nor I ever believed in the mine. "Then In an evil dny a man called Itathwny enrae up. He was a small whisky peddler. He had committed some crime against the Indians. He had been beaten, pursued, and was half dead when my father saved him from their vengennce. He took hlni In and fed and protected him. Kathway Kath-way leurned of the mine, and was always al-ways searching for it, but neither my father nor Leboeuf would tell him where it was. Once he tried to spy on them, and Leboeuf had him by the throat and would have killed lilm If my father had not Intervened in time. "My mother died. RRthway grew fat nnd consequential, lived here, helped my father with his traps, and, though for a long time my fnther did not know It, continued debauching the Indians with his whisky. When I was a girl of seventeen he began to tnke notice of me. He said he loved me. I didn't know much about love, but I knew I hated him. Then one day my fnther came in from the woods just Id time to protect me from him, and he shot Itathwny through the arm. "He was aiming again to shoot him through the heart, for he was terrible when ids anger was roused, when Pathway, standing fnclng lilm, with his arm dripping blood, coolly told him he knew that my falher had committed com-mitted one murder already, and tiiat the fncts were In his possession, written writ-ten down and left for safety with a friend in the south. The change in my father was dreadful. He dropped his rifle, he Seemed nlmost demented. His fenrs for my future, conflicting with his ferirs for tlie present and his fears of Knthwiiy, broke his will. "After that, Rathway stayed oil pnO on, nnd they were always talking together, to-gether, and Rathway threatened my father, but still my father refused to show him the mine, in spite of his threats. My father wanted all of the gold for me It was his mania. "Once Leboeuf came to my father and offered to kill Rathway, but my father refused, and Lebouef, who was devoled to him, never thought of disobeying dis-obeying his strict command. "That happened before the Free Traders were organized in Montreal, but already tbe hooch sellers were getting together. They had established estab-lished a number of posts, one of them tit Lake Misquash, miles away, a week's journey north of here. Rathway Rath-way went to Lake Misquash to confer with them. As soon as he was gone, my father seized the opportunity to send ine away south to a convent, to he educated. Here's the big question. Will it separate the lovers, in spite of their love7 (TO HE CONTINUED.) |