Show ON I I I The Free Traders 8 VICTOR ROUSSEAU u By ht b by W O 0 Chapman 4 9 NO I v V ADVENTURE FIGHTING AND FIGHTING AND LOVElie LOVE LOVElie lie turned his Itis e examination first to 10 the wi cut in ill her head Tead He lie 1 e tore strips from his Itis shirt went scent down to the waler Irater and cleansed them thoroughly then returning he proceeded to wash wa-sh and bandage it it It was a n bad gash from from a rock and she had lad bled a good deal which was a good thing relieving the tIe concussion which ch II had ad no 10 doubt been the cause of the prolonged insensibility Having ascertained that tat site she seemed to have received no 10 bodily injuries beyond contusions Lee examined her Iter limbs He lie saw that one OtIC face hung awry In a moment Ite he had the lIe gaiter off and discovered that thai the joint had been d dis- dis dislocated dis dislocated located It was teas unnerving holding that thai white while knee between his hands so instinct with life so fragile delicate so wonderful when viewed as a piece of mechanism which he was leas to lo manipulate mani like some clumsy journeyman called in to repair the work of a master Fortunately Lee ec had lead hada a assisted at precisely that same operation sacral times in the field and trying to lo disregard the moans of pain that came carne from the thc girls girl's lips lip as he hc proceeded he fumbled with tire the displaced bone bOlle lint Hut that struggle was wat Ua terrible for the body of itself knows no dignity Conscious Lee knew that thai the girl would neither hate flinched nor moaned but unconscious she size could not noi control the pro pro- protests protests pro protests tests of the lie body bod which had to be restrained by something almost brutal in its Us frank violence But Bul Lee struggled on feeling the shaft head of the bone bon scott the edges of the socket under the cap A final struggle the weight of his whole body burly and shoulders thrown t to his task task and and suddenly it was accomplished Here you have the hero and heroine Lee Anderson Royal Canadian Mounted Police sergeant and Joyce Pelly They have been thrown down downa a cliff by an explosion of dynamite set off by the Free Traders The girls girl's memory Is gone from the shock they hey are in a wildern wilderness ss and are being pursued by the Free Traders who are bent on killing the hero and recapturing the girl whom Pathway their le leader der greatly desires More lore Moreover over Anderson who ha has met the girl on the trail by chance is there to arrest Joyces Joyce's father The Free Traders wilderness runners hootch-runners hootch think he is after fter them And Anderson in rescuing the girl from them has beaten up Pathway In a fight So the story starts out with the hero and heroine in difficulties Who ic is the author Why Victor Rousseau And that tells you a alot lot among among other things that the adventures of the young couple to dat date arent aren't a circumstance to what's coming The hero Is shot at thrown into a cataract and generally manhandled The heroine is abducted again by Pathway But someway both manage to escape death And In Inthe Inthe Inthe the end of f course the brave deserves the fair and wins her even if his purpose to arrest the heroines heroine's father mighty near wrecks the exciting romance CHAPTER I 1 Sergeant Anderson Rides Into Little Falls Lee Anderson sergeant In the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had be been n leading loading his Ills horse up the last hill hili Now ow he stopped at the top tOI and lit It his hia pipe letting the initial animal snatch ft a few blades of the sparse grass that grew among the ferns and raspberry brambles beside the cart track There were ere perhaps three thirty or four years es to his credit Ills His rather lined deeply sunburned face nm and throat contrasted markedly with the I edging of white flesh lesli at nt the V top V-top top of Ills his open shirt Lee In his prospector's prospector's I tors tor's clothing appeared to lc he h t typically one of o 0 those reserved quiet self con tamed men whom the lie north breeds ds Ills rather heavy horse a n combination combination tion of pack and saddle was well laden behind the lie rolled blankets that formed a n parapet across Its shoulders Lee Inhaled with delight the warm steamy exhalations of the lie earth rich with the added addell debris of or orthe the year ear lie turned and looked forward Ie- Ie beyond be beyond yond the settlement of or Little Falls lying Ing at the foot oot of the slope In front of or him the last of or the settle settle- settlements settlements settlements ments on his Ills side sille of or Ston Stony range It was s-as an nn unkempt untidy little place pInel created h by the advent nd of the he lumber companies a few years rears before and ond straggling among tie ale knee high knee stumps of or what had been heen virgin forest within the decade After his Ills belated return fro 1 Prance Francc only to find the 01 old North Northwest west nest est mounted of or which he lie had hall been beena n a member merged In the new v Do- Do Dominion Dominion Do Dominion minion body bolly Lee himself had hall been I at He lie liar had been In the police eight years ears before the war Vur It was the only life liCe that lint ap- ap apI appealed ap appealed I pealed aled to him Ills service Ice had hall ex- ex ex expired during his term term at the lie front buthis but his act N y returning hall had been to Inspector Crawley Craw had hall sent for him him n II few da days das s later Inter Anderson lie he said I want you I to be he ready rEaly to 10 start for tor Ston Stony range rangen n a r the he morning to pick up a n nian lUan II Pelly lelly lies lie's on the lie list of anted headed It for some time line In ft f t t I guess uess you ou dont don't know any any- about the Hie case though N n I sir It must have happened II B II iii I on I was In France t di 11 i It t happened a n deuce lle of or a time I I ti you iou ou went to Franco France Anderson I J f p the jhc years ears ago more or Less I glut bt ht love halve e left the lie poor devil II alone hes he's been lIeen a n fugitive so o olun I re rs lun lung Hut But Its It's murder Sergeant andell and ell idl II Ih the Iho new pollee police have hll got to how i-how themselves t just as efficient ent Ilond hour hour hour-ds s as the old force The ii II In the lie case have ha just come through h Ottawa This man ratan lelly appears to have ho killed a Inca mo la Ia Toronto In n the nine nine- nineties nineties ties for tor hi tt tl T reo fe Those de de- de- de details taUs tails arc are not s Sarre P It I I KH ary s I tip carne came down some time ago that has hos been ln living In the Siston lake lale region on the other side of Stony range for a n good many years ears Telly lell appears to have ha got It wind or of orthis this and made a quick getaway g Now ow the words word's come in that hes he's been seen In n the district Ia May Jf b i true or false It wont won't be he possible to convict now If It Is s possible I dont don't hell he'll g get t much of a sentence nut But headquarters are anxious t that lot we should establish our prestige e lI by getting after to him him to show that were we're un un the lie Job as ns our predecessors ors were I want taut you ou to ride In and If hes he's alive lIl pick him him up un and ring hiring him hint back backwith backwith with you ou An Anderson erson saluted He lie was about to leave the lie office when the Inspector call called d him back Stop Stol a moment Sergeant You Youcan Youcan Youcan can guess uess that this man l Pelly lIy was probably betrayed ell by someone with n a grudge against him lunt I suppose you ou know that the lie Free Trailers Traders open opened ell up Ull at Siston lake during the war The Free Traders as ns Anderson knew worn were a gang of or liquor men from from Montreal and sending i its agents far rind wide Into the In- In In Indian Wan dian lands debauching and corrupt corrupt- corrupting ing log The Free Traders dealt In hu- hu hu human man souls as well as fur and whisky they bey were the lie most Iniquitous flung hint bad luau so far entered the northern territories Theres a n man named Jim Hath way way who seems to be handling their work for em up there Ten to on one his hs gangs gang's mixed up with this tills matter In some way Perhaps they're the c out for Felly's Tellys s tie Nl because lie he wouldn't stand In wIth cm emit On the theother theother other hand theres there's the chance cliance that Ilc's hes In with em sin and someone else tipped us off ofT In tha lint t case ease you'll fund find yourself up against the organization This Tills Pathways Pathway's s believed d to have been running liquor under various aliases for years and theres there's ugly rumor about happenings at an Indian camp In n the Far North orth where the Free e Traders have ha another post at Lake Lale They've got to be lie a aIJI abig abig big factor fl during the years ears of the lie war so so big that lint were we're not going to tackle em cm until were we're ready to launch a general campaign against em m remember not to butt In It if you rou find em Ill selling liquor but pickup pick pickup up 1111 Pelly as ns quietly as possible and take notes If It you Oll get the chance cliance on what's going on at Siston lake Youve YolI got Jot carte blanche and you'll take u It covering ering warrant from front the lie sti su stipendiary to use In III any HI way you Jou See lit fit An And take all the time you ou want I because therell there'll be he nothing doln doing till spring But dont don't let cm ern get et wise to ro your our job So you'll leave lea your our uni uniform form behind you ou Sergeant and con con- conduct conduct duct your our Inquiries as inconspicuously as possible And Anti In n a case like this one man mans man's better hetter than two Tints Tint's hy Im I'm sending you aloo alone Finally you'll bear In mind that Felly's lellys arrest comes conies first Soon ns as you ou locate him bring halm him out of or the range At dawn le Lee was upon the road There had Lee been rumors recurrent rumors rumors of a gold old find In Stony range e that slimmer but the nearer Lee Lep Le Jot got gotho gotto ho 10 the range the less explicit the news became becam He lIe passed n fI number of or men on theIr way ss ay south morose and sullen hut bat rend ready enough to pour out their grievance nce lint hut a summers summer's prospect prospect- prospecting prospecting ing ng hall had failed to show liow V ho even en a trace of clor nn anywhere where Lee had listened listener to their click stories and then hen gone one on leaving lea the Impression that h he was n a prospector on a n lie lie- be belated hated latell journey journe to the rhe lie range rane And nr now at last the Ian range e lay In front of or him hIm uplifting Its wild willI peaks Into the thc glory of the autumn sunset Lee felt his Ills heart uplifted too This was life at Its most the zestful zestful lie world spaces and the be hunting or of o the king or of orall all created Man Ian beings Man So Sn S leading Ills his horse horst Lee passed down the lie Ion long slope toward the set set- settlement set settlement of or Little Falls Soon lie hue was ah abreast st of or the lie first shacks shads set in the clearings lon al among the lie sumps stumps Then came rows of uniformly ugly wooden cottages a small mission church with witha a tin roof a n bank and a small hotel announcing Itself by a dilapidated shingle Lee fastened his horse to time the hitch bitch bitching In lag ing post In front and entered On the right of the lie Interior passage was the room dining on the lie left the parlor with the furniture piled up In cor cor- corners Cor- Cor Corners corners ners and the floor strewn with bags In bags s and blankets A passage e ran mn past alight a n light flight or of rickety stairs and find from a II room at lit the end of this tills came tho clamor of ot voices Here Lee found the bar packed tight and running wide open Be- Be Behind Be Behind e hind the mahogany stood n a fat and looking c looking cynical nl I landlord now flow about a n room and stabling for Cor the night asked Lee The landlord slid sUll a schooner of or heel beer from one end of the bar to the middle and turned to Lee his Ills fat body hOdy quivering qui apparently Ith mirth though Ills Ids face did dill not relax any any- anything anything thin thing of Its solemn c cynical aspect Stabling You said It It Boom 7 You cn have ha six foot b by four of of- of the parlor floor stranger he lie answered Pretty full eh cli 1 Fuller n 11 Is I's Ii full of or logs fire-logs f Logging crews signing up Loggin Towns Town's full of these here fool gu guys s 's that's been lIeen pros pros- pros pectin pectin Stony mn range e all summer Got Cot cold colli feet all to and all nil quit to- to together to together gether ether Feeling pretty sore over It I 1 guess S Yn aint aiming to start fer ter the range this tills time thine of year I guess therell there'll be time to wash a afew afew afew I few pans of or dirt answered Lee Ipe Then ma maybe Ill I'll board m my horse here and trap n hit this winter lie led ler his horse Into the stable ga gave It some corn and racked out ai a i r 4 1 r t rt i And Now at the Last Last the Range Lay In of Him Uplifting Its Wild Peaks Into the Glory of the Autumn Sunset bale of hay har ani and carried his blankets hack back to the lie hotel parlor where Ilc he out taked out a sleeping claim upon the A small negro boy bor carr carrying ln a n large hell bell came carne out of the lie kitchen and be- be began be he began gan an to ring It swaying to and fro with witha a cheerful grin as If it he lie were tied to the clapper A At t the sound of or the cracked ell tonS tones the tle men begun Legun to straggle out of or the lie bar Into the room dining where they the took their seats on Ion long benches either side of or a long table covered with a stained tattered oilcloth on which were placed cheap cheap- knives s forks spoons and plates Next Nest appeared n It thickset thick young oun squaw who began lo to hand bund out nut por por- portions portions portions of ot n a greasy dinner cOD consisting of ot suspicious meat beans henns and potatoes flint hind had apparently been frozen to death In bed ber Lee Let who hind taken n a sent scat opposite opposite opposite site the rhe lie don door e surveyed ll the other guests with that that quiet s which was a n part of or his Ills nature nature ns as aswell aswell well as of his liis training For the lie most part he summed them them up tip ns as being of the average a prospector t type pe Among them however howe appeared to tobe tobe he be a few of those hard bitten charac charac- characters characters ers who are to lie he found In every gold fold rush Must of them had been drink drink- drinking drinking In ing hard and nil all seemed by their experiences f of the summer slimmer They were freel freely cursing their Ill- Ill luck Ill luck L Lees Lw's s attention was ns first drawn to th the two men who were sealed opposite opposite site him b by the lie fact that they took no part In this tills chorus of or denunciation A glance showed showell him that they were not prospectors prospector and amid that hint the he under under- understanding understanding standing between was an Inti IntI- IntImate Intimate Intimate mate one One was a short thick set set muscular haired with of lie hard hard- hardest hardest hardest red haired man one line the est and most repulsive o faces that Lee had ever er seen The other apparently his partner was n a huge breed half with n a great gleat u muscular torso covered ered with black hair and long like gorilla gorilla arms arils Ef gr I hat had that guy here liero what started that hunt yarn about the itlie he gold In Stony Slony range range- bc began a man mm on Lees |