Show I FORBIDDEN V VALLEY LEY r F TELEGRAM FICTION Jr I By By WILLIAM 1 BYRON MOWERY Synopsis Curt Tennyson and Paul St. St t. t Claire are arc trailing Igor Karakhan millionaire crook into the Canadian northwest At Russian Russian Rusian Lake they fInd nd Ralph and Sonya Nichols who whore are re venturing into dangerous Indian territory on a scientific mission Curt rescues Sonya onya from a dangerous halfbreed half half- breed reed learns she is a Russian and trIes tries unsuccessfully to to prevent her journey Curt and Paul are shot hot at aty t by y the half breed who escapes CHAPTER 15 Twelve thirty Paul said Curt Wed We'd better start better start our take us usan usan an n hour or more This rain Is our good luck luck be ind indoors ors They stepped outside The rain still sUIl beat cat down but the thunderheads thunderhead with their heir livid flashes had pass passed d on east so o that there was no d danger nger of the lightning betraying them The cabins and nd Indian tepees were all dark They went out the path to the Bay ay establishment The store twenty steps step cps from Higginbotham's residence WM Was as entirely dark but to Curts Curls dis dis- appointment there was a a light aUght in the house use From a window on the then north side de a yellow shaft streamed out into the le rainy blackness Leaving Paul at the fur press he be circled around the n north rth side and crept up behind a cord of ot wood He Hedared Hedared dared not rise and look over the rick the he light would glisten on on his wet et sUcker slicker and give him away Feeling about bout with his fingers he located a loose stick pulled it out and made an aperture large enough to peer to-peer peer through The room was WM Sonya Ni Nichols Nichols' With a chair drawn close to the window Sonya onya was looking out into the night an n elbow on the window sill sm The Thc Thel candle andle on the dresser turned her hair hairl to a mass of gold and nd lIghted light light- ed cd d up the soft roundness of her arms and nd shoulders She seemed too moody for or sleep Less than ten feet away from her Curt urt felt guilty for intruding on her privacy but the expression on her herace face ace arr arrested ted him and he continued to o watch Evidently she thought herself herself her her- I self elf alone with the night and so made madeno madeo no o effort to hide her feelings as she normally did She Sie seemed bi bitterly terly unhappy and worried but the thing that hat struck k him most forcibly was her set hard Seldom fooled in such matters he e knew that something wrong badly wrong lay behind her tragic reverie everle At the moment pressed by bylis his lis own wor work and the need of hurry he ic could not pause there long but buthe the he incident left its s impression on him im Around with Paul again he whispered whis whis- ered Its all right we wont won't be both both- ered red Ill I'll go into the trading store myself You stay here and keep guard If anyone shows up give that cluck uck of the hawk time for form forme forme m me to get out The doors are locked but ut I loosened the inside catch on this Ibis lis front window when I was here this lis evening Give me a boost up partner artner He was not sure his work would get results butth odds favored it The clue ue he was after almost h had d to be in that trading post for or there was no no station between Russian Lake and the Yukon and none nearer than Fort Nelson on the Liard Midnight Search Through the pitch dark he felt along the counter to the rear and found the desk where kept his books book He had scouted out the store thoroughly that evening and knew the exact ledger that he wanted His fingers closed upon it it he drew it out and too jt over behind the counter Making himself a little barricade of boxes so that his flash glow could not be noticed outside he began examining the book The The record record started with June first o of ot the previous summer and ran for lor exactly one year ear Every transaction of t the store whether et cash trade or debt had been entered by the methodical methodical meth meth- factor Several of the months vere were scanty others others' heavy By interpreting the little human st stories stones ries behind d the entries Curt could ld reconstruct alm almost St every happening at Russian Lake In the last twelve months He became familiar with Ith names people their oc occupations the events in their lives Mar Mary Talking Water buys ten yards of ot flannelette charge harge Peter Lame Lam Wind tr trades d s thirty lake lake trout for fora canvas a vas sto to rec recover his cano canoe LeNoir buys a carton at of S Savage vage c cartridges cartridges charge Sam Tied Canoe to Shore trades a grade 2 otter for a fanged bear jumper At that first swe sweeping examination examina examination tion Curt selected four names as meriting suspicion On the next t time me through three ot of them dropped out oui the the of Only one remained name LeNoir BaptiSte Baptiste the fellow was a half He was was wa-s a tr trapper and he he lived some d distance stance from Russian Lake for Ke lie did not riot get In often from six to eight weeks elapsed between n his visits But when he did come in he traded very freely treely He was by easy odds the best customer that Higginbotham Hig Hig- had Very plainly the fellow was buying for tor somebody in Iii addition to himself Hi His food Stems items were double and arid triple the needs need of one man and he bought cartridges for two rifles rInes a Savage and a standard Was he buying for some other trapper trap trapper per or cry of ot his The items proved he was not in cans of each a radio a score of rica des that cost heavily heavily no no trapper would ever purchase those things This unknown whom LeN LeNoir ir was buying for tor had the luxury tastes of ot a city man and plenty of money to indulge indulge in them Curt Scans SCAM List With his suspicion definitely focused fo to- cased Curt turned again to the beginning beginning beginning be be- ginning of ot the record and started down across the LeNoir transactions scrutinizing each item In August the fellow had been hanging around Bussian Russian Rus Bus sian Lake making little daily purchases purchases pur chases chases' lik the other breeds idling there here His entries then were charge The record r gave a perfect picture of a breed loafing away the open season But in late September the whole situation suddenly changed He seemed to have come into money In a twinkling for tor h he not ot only began buying heavily and paying cash but buthe buthe buthe he settled up p a two wo years year's account in full utI Where had h he got cot the money for that No guide was ever paid such wages Late September that September that was about the time when Igor Karakhan Karakhan Kara Kara- khan had come north Into the Lil- Lil Half HaIr an hour bel before re daybreak k Curt straightened up from his long cramped study of the ledger and replaced replaced re reo re- re placed the book where he had got it Smoothing out all signs of his midnight midnight midnight mid mid- night visit he joined Paul outside p Paul ull Weve We've done m itt What No Cant be a doubt in the world I t found out who his contact contact man is That trade record was a dead give a away Obliviously of ot the beating rain thy shook hands o over r their great luck Curt Cart Steeples Back at camp at camp Paul smoked a cig cig- arct iret and then turned in Curt could not ot sleep too much had happened in the last few hours Lighting a pipe he started back to Old Johns John's tent wanting t to find out something about LeNoir so that he could strike up a a friendship with the breed At the flap front he asked Hello John still up Come in by Im I'm Im I'm down but I aint to sleep Copyright 1934 1034 William B. B Mow Mow- ery cry Curt Cur tomorrow is handed a stunning stun stun- I ning jolt by Old John |