Show I i TF TTO v FORBIDDEN VALLEY s I i B BYM oY N N. N I SYNOPSIS Curt Tennyson and Paul St. St Clair ar are arc trailing Igor Karakhan Int rna crook into the Canadian northwest At the edge of the dan dangerous dangerous an Indian territory they th-ey join parties with Ralph and Sonya Nichols presumably entomologists collecting insects for study As LeNoir s scout Is iss warning him of the strangers stranger's approach ch Curt CurtIs Is Js' trying t to learn whether ther the hc Nich really are entomologists He asks Sonya J if she recognizes a beetle he has caught i CHAPTER 19 19 Sonya chose chos her w words carefully Its Its It's a very Interesting i J species Wouldn't it make a R chic scarf pin Quite true Curt Curt th thought And quite like a girl to say that How How- However However However ever ever her d description wasn't exactly scientific He hated to togo go on with his questionings questionings-a q e. e a a wisp of hair playing play play- ing against her hex cheek check was was almost lmos his undoing B But t he he made himself seU be relentless Dyo know what family It belongs be b longs to Sonya stiffened a little muc and glanced up at him a sharp harp searchIng search search- lag Ing glance as though she g guessed why he was quizzing herI her I dont don't care to give a mere opinion pin pinIon ion lon she parried deftly demy on guardA guard A person ought to make a microscopic micro micro- microscopic microscopic examination before beCore trying to classify ssi Curt dropped the subject slipped p ped the beetle into his pocket and started back to camp with with her He had found lound 6 t r 1 r I out what va led to know Sonya h had d ho idea what the beetle wasAt wasAt was At his first cha chance ce he took kl Ralph aside and showed h him m the Ralph knew no more about it than I Sonya did and furthermore he lacked her quickness of wit in getting get ting out of ot a tight corner Pinned down for an In answer he pretended to recognize the insect and gave It Ita ita a 11 Latin name but his bluff blur was a miserable one In R a brown study Curt set the beetle free and walked over over to Paul to tell him what he had just found lound out Neither Ralph nor Sonya was an all entomologist at all They knew absolutely nothing about the subject He told Pau ul about aboUL the beetle Paul Asks Question Paul glanced toward the fire where Sonya was was' getting the meal ready What are they doing in this country coun try then 1 i Curt made a gesture of bafflement tell You tell Ill I'll you Prospecting maybe take to that R Ralph lph wouldn't w recognize a R gold conglomerate if he stubbed his foot loot against one and she's worse worse Vacationing I 1 can can think of ot pleasanter ways to sp spend Dd a vacation vacation- than up this river and taking chances with ith these And why should th they y make s such ch a secret about a amere amere amere mere vacation Then what's your guess I 1 haven't got even a guess All AllI I know Is this whatever they're up to to its it's important They know v they're running running into into danger know it as S well as we we do but they Intend t to go rIghton rIght on regardless And another thing thing thing- Sonya's the real leader of those two She's the determined one Ralphs Ralph's just a tail to her kite Paul nodded Yes Its It's not hard I to see sec that But what are you going to do about them Have a showdown with her and make her tell ll me the about this trip When the party got ready to go goon goon goon on again he suggested to Nichols Ralph youre you're pretty tI tired cd maybe you'd better betLer go with Paul this afternoon afternoon after after- noon so you you can take things Sonya can go in my canoe Well We'll work ahead and have camp made by bythe bythe bythe the time you come in Sonya Is Doubtful Sonya stepp stepped cd into h his canoe and they started they started out ahead of ot the others By the time they reached the foot ol ola ofa ot of a a. rapids four miles mlle upstream they had left lett the heavily laden boats out of sight around a n bend Portaging around the rapids rapid and the o above they came out upon a long quiet stretch Curt kept putting off of his showdown showdown showdown show down with Sonya for lor he hated to tob b reak Cak into the pleasant mood of ot th the hour lour Even after a week a of intimate association he h he n never never ver could tell how she he she would react to something or or wh what f to expect from her Often he tried to analyze the tu tu- mutt nult of his emotions toward her He had consciously said to himself that hat he h had d fallen in love with Uh h her r. r But he did realize now now how lifeless his relations with Rosalie Marlin were ns M Marin Mar Mar- lin Un in how utterly they lacked fire or meaning As As the very heart of the contraSt between those two girls he knew that knew that he respected Sonya whereas where where- as he ho had never respected Rosalie or anything save her prettiness and as asa a a. a companion for a lighthearted light eve eve- n ning Ing Catch String Siring of Trout At a cr creek ek mouth where a family of f otters were t tumbling about in a foamy they stopped to catch 1 a string of trout f for r supper Giving Sony Sonya onya his rod he leaned against a boulder boulder net in hand hand wanting her to have ave the pleas pleasure re of ot taking them all nIL allt At t such times all too rare with her heFt she le appeared to forget herself end and nd shake lake off the trouble which he had seen cen on her face lace that night when he crouched behind the cordwood Like it he asked as h he lifted the string ring of trout into the canoe and andley they ley started on OD Sh She nodded her eyes shining They skirled along in n silence for fora a few rods Just as Curt was think think- Ing Ingup ng up a tactful way of broaching his talk alk with her she surprised him with witha a sudden unexpected question Curt youre you're not really a pros ector r are you For a moment he thought she had pIerced his mask and had found out why he really was in there I Why yes Why yes he asserted evenly I What makes you think hink Im I'm no not Sonya onya 1 I I just cant can't imagine you as merely a prospector Curt Why She studied her answer Im wondering won won- dering ering how you can be satisfied with witha a life lie like this year in and year out Curt urt Youre You're out of things out of co contact tact with the world and yc re remaking making no contribution to to-to to call to-to-call to call It t human society For most men it'd be e all right but not for you Why do you single me out Because Curt youve you've got the capacity ca ca- for something richer and more inore useful than a buried away exis existence nce like ike youre you're leading Please you ont dont mind my being frank Why certainly not he assured But Jut deep down her philosophy did trouble him arousing his old fears lears about the tyranny of ot duty He knew that when he went back to the Three Rivers country he would carry her words with him and that they lit lift lither her voice between him and a complete enjoyment ment of his adventurous ous us freedom Copyright ight 1934 William B. B B. B Mowery |